Determination of Heterotic Groups and Heterosis Analysis of Yield Performance in indica Rice

To compare the heterosis levels among various groups of parental lines used extensively in China, identify foundational heterotic groups in parental pools and understand the relationship between genetic distance and heterosis performance, 16 parental lines with extensive genetic variation were selected from various sub-groups, and 39 hybrid combinations were generated and evaluated in Fujian and Hainan Provinces of China. The main results were as follows： （1） The 16 parental lines can be grouped into 7 sub-groups consisting of 1 maintainer sub-group and 6 restorer sub-groups; （2） Mean grain yield of the restorer lines was higher than that of the maintainer lines, and mean yield of parental lines was higher than that of the hybrid combinations; （3） The two best heterotic patterns were II-32A × G5 and II-32A × G6, moreover, the order of restorer sub-groups according to grain yield, from the highest to lowest, was G7, G6, G5, G4, G3 and G2; High specific combining ability values were observed for combinations of II-32A × G5, II-32A × G6 and Tianfeng A × G7; （4） Hybrid combinations derived from II-32A crossed with 13 restorer lines had higher yield trait values （mid-parent heterosis, better-parent heterosis, standard heterosis over check and specific combining ability） than any other combinations; （5） Genetic distance was positively correlated with panicle number, grain length and length-to-width ratio （P 〈 0.05） and negatively correlated with grain width, grain yield, seed-setting rate, as well as mid-parent heterosis, standard heterosis over check, and specific combining ability for grain yield （P 〈 0.01）. These heterotic groups and patterns and their argonomic traits will provide useful information for future hybrid rice breeding programs.

Heterosis and heritability estimates for the survival of the Pacific white shrimp(Litopenaeus vannamei) under the commercial scale ponds

The aim of the present study is to detect the potential of the base population from diallel crosses of eight introduced strains of the Pacific white shrimp（Litopenaeus vannamei） for improving the yield. Heterosis and heritability were estimated for pond survival at commercial farm conditions for the base population that included 207 full-sib families from a nested mating design by artificial insemination. Among all the hybrids,the heterosis ranged from –11.37%（UA1×UA2） to 20.53%（UA3×SIN） with an average of 0.953%. The results showed that more than half of the hybrids（51.85%） have negative heterosis for survival rate, but most of the hybrids with positive heterosis have high estimates. The high proportion of negative heterosis for survival rate reminders us that the survival trait also should be considered in the crossbreeding program to avoid yield decrease. However, high positive heterosis manifested in most of the hybrids for survival indicates the usefulness of these hybrids for improving the survival to obtain higher yield by crossbreeding in this breeding program. The heritability estimate for pond survival was 0.092±0.043 when genetic groups were included in the pedigree, and it was significantly different from zero（P〈0.05）. The results from this study also indicated that significant improvement for survival is possible through selection in L. vannamei.