Heritability Estimates and Genetic Correlations Among Body Weight and Measurement Traits of Large-size Rainbow Trout, Oncorhynchus mykiss, in China

The variance components of additive effects and genetic correlations of body weight (BW) and body measurement traits were estimated in a freshwater strain selected for large size in a breeding program for rainbow trout, Oncorhynchus mykiss, in China. Phenotypic data were collected for BW and measurement traits from 2362 individuals with a two-generation pedigree, and the average information-restricted maximum likelihood method was used for the genetic analysis. The genetic parameters of BW were estimated at three time points (550, 850, and 1000 days post-fertilization [dpf]), showing high heritability in a range from 0.33 to 0.98. However, the heritability estimates of total length (TL) showed lower values ranging from 0.05 to 0.51, with high standard errors. Genetic correlation between TL and BW was almost equal to unity at 550 dpf, and the genetic correlations between TL at 550 dpf and BW at two other time points were all positive and very high (ca. 0.95–0.99). These results indicate that BW and TL selected at 550 dpf had a direct positive effect on BW performance at 1000 dpf, which was 450 d before the date of the target trait observed.