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.

Developmental Analysis of Genetic Behavior of Brown Rice Width in indica-japonica Hybrids

The developmental genetic behaviors of brown rice width （BRW） have been studied in indica-japonica hybrid rice （Oryza sativa L.）, in which seven indica male sterile lines and five japonica restorer lines were applied, by using the developmental genetic models and corresponding statistical approaches for quantitative traits of triploid in cereal crops. The BRW of indica-japonica hybrid rice was co-determined by gene expression of tdploid endosperm, cytoplasm, diploid maternal plant and their genotype × environmental interaction effects. Unconditional analysis showed that the endosperm additive and matemal additive effects were predominant for the development of BRW from early- to late-stage of the grain development, but the endosperm dominant effect together with matemal effect and cytoplasmic effect became the major factor determing the BRW at the ripening stage. Moreover, conditional analysis found that there were new onset and offset of gene expression at different developmental stages of BRW in indica-japonica hybrid rice. Maternal and cytoplasm general heritabilities and their interaction heritabilities were more important compared to other components of heritability for BRW at all the five developmental stages.

Analysis of genetic effects and heritabilities for amylose content of indica rice in different environments

An understanding of the genetic effects of em-bryo genes for rice quality traits is of impor-tance for rice quality improvement. Analysisof embryo, endosperm, cytoplasmic, and ma-ternal genetic effects and genotype×environ-

Response to Selection for Fast Growth in the Second Generation of Pacific Oyster (Crassostrea gigas)

Mass selection for fast growth was conducted in three Pacific oyster (Crassostrea gigas) stocks from China, Japan and Korea using previously established lines (CS1, JS1, and KS1). To determine whether continuous progress can be achieved by selection for growth, the progeny of three second-generation Pacific oyster lines was selected for shell height and evaluated via a 400-day farming experiment. When harvested at the end of the experiment, the selected crosses of CS2, JS2, and KS2 lines grew by 9.2%, 10.2% and 9.6% larger than the control crosses, respectively. During grow-out stage, the genetic gain of three selected lines was (10.2 ± 1.4)%, (10.4 ± 0.3)%, and (8.4 ± 1.6)%, respectively; and the corresponding realized heritability was 0.457 ± 0.143, 0.312 ± 0.071 and 0.332 ± 0.009, respectively. These results indicated that the selection for fast growth achieved steady progress in the second generation of oyster. Our work provides supportive evidence for the continuity of the Pacific oyster selective breeding program.