Inter-relationships among total crude protein and digestible dry matter production and their component traits in Guinea grass

Summary Phenotypic and genotypic correlation coefficients of total crude protein per plant (TCP) and digestible dry matter per plant (DDM) with dry matter yield per plant (DMY), tiller number, plant height, stem thickness and leaf-stem ratio, pooled over two years, revealed that TCP and DDM were correlated at both the phenotypic and genotypic levels with DMY, tiller number and plant height. But only DMY had high direct effects on TCP and DDM. Tiller number and plant height had only indirect effects on TCP and DDM via DMY. Thus, selection based on tiller number and plant height may not only improve dry matter yield per plant but also total crude protein per plant and digestible dry matter per plant. Further, screening of high TCP and high DDM clones among the high yielding clones would be a more remunerative approach to improve TCP and DDM in Guinea grass.