Genetic parameters for uniformity of harvest weight in Pacific white shrimp (Litopenaeus vannamei)

Abstract

Background Uniformity of body weight is a trait of great economic importance in the production of white shrimp (Litopenaeus vannamei). A necessary condition to improve this trait through selective breeding is the existence of genetic variability for the environmental variance of body weight. Although several studies have reported such variability in other aquaculture species, to our knowledge, no estimates are available for shrimp. Our aim in this study was to estimate the genetic variance for weight uniformity in a farmed population of shrimp to determine the potential of including this trait in the selection program. We also estimated the genetic correlation of weight uniformity between two environments (selection nucleus and commercial population). Methods The database contained phenotypic records for body weight on 51,346 individuals from the selection nucleus and 38,297 individuals from the commercial population. A double hierarchical generalized linear model was used to analyse weight uniformity in the two environments. Fixed effects included sex and year for the nucleus data and sex and year-pond combination for the commercial data. Environmental and additive genetic effects were included as random effects. Results The estimated genetic variance for weight uniformity was greater than 0 (0.06 ± 0.01) in both the nucleus and commercial populations and the genetic coefficient of variation for the residual variance was 0.25 ± 0.01. The genetic correlation between weight and weight uniformity was close to zero in both environments. The estimate of the genetic correlation of weight uniformity between the two environments (selection nucleus and commercial population) was 0.64 ± 0.06. Conclusions The existence of genetic variance for weight uniformity suggests that genetic improvement of this trait is possible. Selection for weight uniformity should not decrease weight, given the near zero genetic correlation between these two traits. The strong genetic correlation of weight uniformity between the two environments indicates that response to selection for uniformity in the nucleus will be at least partially transmitted to the commercial population if this trait is included in the breeding goal.

Defining desired genetic gains for Pacific white shrimp (Litopenaeus vannamei) breeding objective using participatory approaches

“…This could be the reason for the low priority for number of nauplii. Uniformity is one of the important economic traits in shrimp production (García‐Ballesteros et al., 2021). Moreover, deformity is one of the main factors that lead to a significant decrease in the growth rate and survival of shrimp affecting the economic yield and profitability of the farm (Agnalt et al., 2013; De Donato et al., 2008).…”

Eco-friendly and safe alternatives for the valorization of shrimp farming waste

“…The marine ecosystems provide seafoods from finfish (tuna, herring, pollock, whiting, and mackerel) and crustaceans (prawn, shrimp, crab, mollusks, and lobster) (Mahaffey 2004 ; Hosomi et al 2012 ; Liu and Ralston 2021 ). There are hundreds of shrimp species found worldwide, but only 20 are commercially significant like Litopenaeus vannamei (white leg shrimp), Penaeus monodon (giant tiger prawn) (Van Quyen et al 2020 ; Nisar et al 2021 ; García-Ballesteros et al 2021 ), and Acetes japonicus (Akiami paste shrimp) (Aziz et al 2010 ). About 40% of the shrimp is discarded as waste which includes head and body carapace mostly (Miget 1991 ; Chen et al 2022 ; AlFaris et al 2022 ).…”