Some quantitative traits associations and their application in characterization of Iranian accessions of Cannabis (Cannabis sativa L.)

This study was performed to evaluate relationships among morphological traits and use of the traits to describe Iranian Cannabis accessions. Results of the ANOVA for the measured traits excluding the number of lateral inflorescent, displayed significant differences among accessions. The lowest plant heights were observed in Sero and Saqez (respectively 81.20 and 78.80) and the highest values were in Desht-e-moghan, Ramhormoz, Dezful2 and Boshruye (respectively 203, 222.40, 198.40 and 195.30). Also the earliest flowering dates were found in Ardabil, Sero, Kermanshah, Saqez, Saadat-shahr (respectively 91, 89, 88.40, 84.10 and 88.20) and the latest flowering accessions were Qazvin1, Ramhormoz and Shiraz (respectively 108.80, 111.50 and 114.30). Associations among the traits revealed positive significant correlations between some traits such as the height of the first alternative node indicating the beginning of reproductive phase with stem diameter, number of node and mean length of internode. The least coefficient of variation was observed in number of days to seed formation (2.27%) and the highest amount was in the length of main inflorescence (29.31%). Factor analysis based on the measured traits showed that the three first factors explained 80.67% of total variance. According the factor loadings, the most of vegetative traits had higher values in the first factor while the phonological traits along to plant height were effective traits in the second factor.