Estimation of the Heritability for Growth Traits at 3 Months and 5 Months of Pacific White Shrimp, Litopenaeus Vannamei

To provide the necessary genetic parameters for Litopenaeus vannamei breeding program, the heritabilities were estimated in the breeding process.Heritabilities were estimated for the body weight (BW), total length (TL), the body length (BL), first abdominal segment depth (FASD), third abdominal segment depth (TASD), first abdominal segment width (FASW), partial carapace length (PCL) of L. vannamei were measured in 3-5 months old.The estimates were calculated from 7 body measurements on progeny resulting from a nested mating design.17 half-sib families and 42 full-sib families of L. vannamei were obtained by artificial assistant fertilization of 2-5 females with a single male, and the measurements were obtained 3-5 months after metamorphism.Point estimate for heritabilities based on the sire component were moderate, and they were 0.452±0.029,0.368±0.025,0.387±0.026,0.403±0.023,0.415±0.033,0.441±0.028,0.422±0.027for BW, TL, BL, FASD, TASD, FASW and PCL at 3 month, and 0.515±0.031,0.394±0.028,0.409±0.028,0.412±0.028,0.420±0.029,0.429±0.029,0.415±0.028for BW, TL, BL, FASD, TASD, FASW and PCL at 5 month, respectively, all of which differ significantly from zero (P<0.01).