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The precise and accurate knowledge of genetic parameters is a prerequisite for making efficient selection strategies in breeding programs. A number of estimators of heritability about important economic traits in many marine mollusks are available in the literature, however very few research have evaluated about the accuracy of genetic parameters estimated with different family structures. Thus, in the present study, the effect of parent sample size for estimating the precision of genetic parameters of four growth traits in clam M. meretrix by factorial designs were analyzed through restricted maximum likelihood (REML) and Bayesian. The results showed that the average estimated heritabilities of growth traits obtained from REML were 0.23-0.32 for 9 and 16 full-sib families and 0.19-0.22 for 25 full-sib families. When using Bayesian inference, the average estimated heritabilities were 0.11-0.12 for 9 and 16 full-sib families and 0.13-0.16 for 25 full-sib families. Compared with REML, Bayesian got lower heritabilities, but still remained at a medium level. When the number of parents increased from 6 to 10, the estimated heritabilities were more closed to 0.20 in REML and 0.12 in Bayesian inference. Genetic correlations among traits were positive and high and had no significant difference between different sizes of designs. The accuracies of estimated breeding values from the 9 and 16 families were less precise than those from 25 families. Our results provide a basic genetic evaluation for growth traits and should be useful for the design and operation of a practical selective breeding program in the clam M. meretrix. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A 3×3 complete diallel cross comprising three families of the clam Meretrix meretrix (P1, P2 and P3) was used to determine the combining ability of parental families and heterosis of F1 under indoor and openair environments for growth traits. Analysis of variance for shell length and whole body weight indicated highly significant cross effects, environment effects and the interaction of cross by environment. General combining ability (GCA) and specific combing ability exhibited great variation among crosses and between two environments. Pooled over environments, P2 was the top combiner among the three parental families for both traits studied. The cross of P1 and P3 had the highest SCA. Additionally, significant reciprocal effects were observed. For individual environment, about half of the crossbred combinations showed favorable Mid-parent heterosis (MPH) (>1%) for the shell length and whole body weight. Our data has shown that non-additive genetic and reciprocal effects constituted the major sources of genetic variation for both shell length and whole body weight, which indicates that crossbreeding among selective families could further explore the heterotic effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A breeding-selection program for the clam, Meretrix meretrix, was conducted since 2004. Two of the selection populationswere generated with the shell color pattern as an additional selection criterion and named as SP (purple stripes) population and SB (black dots) population. The third-generation SP and SB populations (08G3SP and 08G3SB, respectively) were cultured at two commercial clam farms and a nursery pond and their shell lengths were compared. 08G3SB clams had significantly larger sizes than 08G3SP clams at commercial clam farms ( p < 0.05), yet 08G3SB individuals were significantly smaller than 08G3SP individuals at the nursery pond ( p < 0.05). Then, we examined the growth of the fourth-generation SP and SB populations (10G4SP and 10G4SB, respectively) at a commercial farm, and found that the shell lengths of the 10G4SB clams increased at a significantly higher growth rate than the 10G4SP clams ( p < 0.05) from May to September, when the water temperature was between 24.2-27.5°C, while 10G4SB lost the growth advantage in the other months. These results indicated that SP and SB populations responded differently to environmental factors, so it is beneficial for the clam farmers to select a suitable population according to the culture environment. Furthermore, a diallel mating of the SB and SP populations was designed to investigate whether their hybrid population would show heterosis. However, the heterosis was not shown in this study, whichmight result from the slight genetic divergence between SB and SP populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]