Correlation analysis for genetic parameters of growth traits of Macrobrachium rosenbergii

Five growth traits of 106 families of five-month old Macrobrachium rosenbergii,including 32 half-sib families were measured,and genetic parameters of the five growth traits,including cephalothorax length,abdomen length,the length of the last abdominal segment,body length and body weight were estimated using an animal model;variance components were estimated by DFREML method.In the animal model,sex and egg-carrying status were used as the fixed effects,and the age of the families was used as covariate.The coefficient of variation of body weight was 36.8,and the highest among the five growth traits,indicating for a greater potential for genetic selection by body weight.Heritability of the five growth traits for five-month old M.rosenbergii was low,and heritability of cephalothorax length,abdomen length,the length of the last abdominal segment,body length and body weight were 0.06、0.07、0.02、0.07 and 0.07,respectively.The phenotypic correlation of the five traits was between 0.398 ~ 0.910,and the genetic correlation was between 0.35 and 1.0.The genetic correlation between cephalothorax length and body length was the highest(1.0),and that between body length and body weight was lower(0.98).The results would provide theoretic basis for further selective breeding and hybridization of M.rosenbergii.