Table 5.

Genotypic (r_g) (lower triangle) and phenotypic (r_P) (upper triangle) correlation coefficients, between traits base on the 40 M. officinalis half sib families, the six parental germplasm accessions and the two check cultivars, evaluated across two locations, Yuzhong and Linze.

	DW	LA	L_S	PH	SD	SN	SV
DW		0.086	−0.371**	0.477**	0.658**	0.336**	−0.835**
LA	0.021		−0.023	0.116	0.166*	−0.070	−0.121
L_S	−0.129	−0.003		−0.227	−0.303	−0.037	0.330**
PH	0.082	0.037	−0.131		0.130*	0.127*	−0.510**
SD	0.051	0.011	−0.042	0.029		0.264**	−0.528**
SN	0.116	−0.045	−0.047	0.019	0.035		−0.361**
SR	−0.187	−0.029	0.139	−0.119	−0.057	−0.129

LS, leaf to stem ratio; SV, spring vigor; LA, leaf area (cm²); PH, plant height (cm); DW, herbage dry weight (g/plant); SD, stem diameter (cm); SN, stem number.

^{*, **}Significant at p < 0.05 and p < 0.01.