| Abstract: | Genetic parameters were estimated for growth‐related traits and survival of the Kuruma shrimp Marsupenaeus japonicus based on 66 families, including 30 paternal half‐sib families, which were obtained using artificial insemination of two females by each male. The variance components for growth‐related trait and survival were estimated using a single‐trait animal model and a sir‐dam model, respectively, and genetic parameters were estimated using the restricted maximum likelihood method. The coefficients of variation for growth‐related traits such as body length (BL), abdominal length (AL), and body weight (BW) were 9.36%–22.44%, 10.61%–21.92%, and 26.47%–58.33%, respectively, at different ages (45, 75, 105, 135, and 165 days). The corresponding heritability estimates for each growth trait were 0.1545–0.1951, 0.1672–0.1905, and 0.1596–0.1934, respectively, all of which were found to be at moderate levels and increased with age. The heritability of survival on day 165 was low (0.003). The genetic correlations among growth traits were positive and high (0.7316–0.9896) at the different ages, suggesting that selection to improve any single growth trait will cause positive responses in other growth traits examined in M. japonicus. The genetic correlations between growth traits and survival were also positive but low (0.005–0.087), which indicated that only selecting for growth traits may not cause a positive correlated response in the survival of the core population. According to the above results, we suggested that growth and survival traits should be taken as improving targets of breeding in M. japonicus. These results provided reference data for selective breeding and multitrait selection of M. japonicus. |
