Heritability and genetic correlations of growth and survival in black tiger prawn Penaeus monodon reared in tanks

Abstract

Penaeus monodon were reared in captivity in tanks over three generations with full pedigree information. Weights of animals were measured at six ages between 7 and 54 weeks along with survival in each period. Females were more variable in weight than males after week 16, and variances between each sex were standardised prior to estimation of heritability and genetic correlations. The phenotypic mean (standard deviation) of weights at week 40 were 35 (6) g for males and 44 (10) g for females. Heritability with standard errors at 16, 30, 40 and 54 weeks were 0.56 ± 0.04, 0.55 ± 0.07, 0.45 ± 0.11 and 0.53 ± 0.14 respectively. Heritability for family survival, determined from mean survival within each family, was 0.51 + 0.18, 0.36 ± 0.18 and 0.71 ± 0.17 over periods 4 to 10, 10 to 16 and 16 to 32 weeks respectively. The genetic correlations between weight and survival revealed no significant trend. The results from this study indicate significant concurrent improvements in both growth and survival are possible through selective breeding.