Abstract:In order to provide germplasm resource and technical reference for the innovation and efficient utilization of cannabis germplasm resources in China, this study analyzed phenotypic variations on 14 agronomic and quality related traits in 198 cannabis germplasm accessions collected from China, Morocco and European countries. The results showed that either domestic or exotic cannabis germplasm accessions represented relatively abundant genetic diversity, with variation coefficients on 14 traits ranged from 4.79%-64.45%. The highest variation coefficient was CBD content and the lowest was female flowering date, with an average value of 27.78%. The variation coefficient regarding to four cannabinoids (CBN, CBD, CBDA and CBDV) is all higher than 40.0%, suggesting better variability at quality traits. The CBD content was found to significantly positively correlate with the content of CBDA, CBDV and CBN; the CBDA content was significantly positively correlated with the CBN content; the plant height was significantly positively correlated with the stem diameter. The CBDA content was significantly correlated with multiple agronomic traits, such as plant height and stem diameter. Principal component analysis revealed six principal components with a cumulative contribution rate of 69.204%, indicating that six principal components are able to represent large proportion of these phenotypic variations. Cluster analysis suggested three groups, in which 69 accessions of the first group showed better perfermance in terms of cannabinoid content, plant height and stem diameter, and they might be further tested for obtaining elite parental lines in breeding.