GENETIC PARAMETERS AND GENOTYPE BY ENVIRONMENT INTERACTION FOR BODY WEIGHT AND SURVIVAL OF PACIFIC WHITE SHRIMP LITOPENAEUS VANNAMEI

Genetic parameters and genotype by environment interaction (G×E) were obtained for body weight and survival of Pacific white shrimp Litopenaeus vannamei using full-sib and half-sib families from cultured brood females collected from seven introduced populations. The heritability estimates for body weight and survival in the base population all ranged from moderate to high (0.19±0.09) to (0.43±0.09), (0.27±0.04) to (0.45±0.06) and were significantly different from zero (P0.05). The heritabilities estimated between two farm units (HBHH and QDAS) at different locations (Huanghua city and Qingdao city) were not significantly different from each other (P0.05) for body weight and survival using Z-score test. There was a low phenotypic and genetic correlation between body weight and survival ( 0.007 and 0.008).The genetic correlations between HBHH and QDAS farms were 0.83±0.04 for body weight, and 0.40±0.11 for survival. These correlations suggest that a low G×E effect for body weight (K0.5), but a high G×E effect for survival (K0.5). The results show that there is quite substantial additive genetic variance for body weight and survival in Pacific white shrimp that can be exploited through selective breeding.