Genetic parameter estimates for growth-related traits in Oujiang color common carp (Cyprinus carpio var. color)

Oujiang color common carp (Cyprinus carpio var. color) is a common variant of the common carp widely distributed in the Oujiang River basin of Zhejiang province in China. It has been cultured for more than 1200 years in rice paddies and yards, but a genetic improvement program has only been conducted since 1999. In this study, heritability, genetic and phenotypic correlations were estimated for body weight (BW), total length (TL), standard length (SL), pre-dorsal height (PDH), and pre-dorsal width (PDW) measurements in progeny at 8 and 20 months of age resulting from a nested mating design. At 8 months of age, the estimated heritabilities based on sire components (hs2) for these traits were 0.20–0.35, the significantly phenotypic and genetic correlations were 0.78–0.96 and 0.39–0.80, respectively. At 20 months of age, the estimated heritabilities (hs2) were 0.14–0.30, the significantly phenotypic and genetic correlations were 0.89–0.96 and 0.62–0.85, respectively. It was concluded that genetic improvement through selective breeding conducted on Oujiang color common carp might be feasible and would be an efficient method to obtain a positive response to selection.