Abstract: The relationship between gas desorption index of drill cuttings K₁ and gas pressure p was measured for six coal samples from Jincheng Daning Mine in Shanxi province based on the measuring principle of index K₁.Then, combined the industrial analysis parameters of measured coal samples, the variation characteristics of K₁ with gas content W was researched. The results show that there is significant correlation between K₁ and W. This correlation can be expressed by exponential function, and the two also are in accordance with the linear relation when the gas content is low.