Abstract
Magur (Clarias magur) is an Indian catfish species with a good potential for aquaculture. The expansion of magur aquaculture is hindered because of low reproductive and survival rates. Furthermore, males need to be sacrificed to collect milt for artificial fertilization. At present, magur seed production mainly depends on the wild-caught juveniles and to a smaller extent, from broodfish whose genetic potential is unknown. The availability of high-quality seeds in a sustainable way can be ensured through the selective breeding program for magur. The knowledge of factors influencing growth traits and their genetic parameters is a pre-requisite for implementing a genetic selection program. The present study aimed to quantify the performance of C.magur reared in a two-year class and estimate their heritabilities at stocking and harvest and also to estimate the genetic and phenotypic correlations among them. The growth traits such as Body Weight (BW), Total Length (TL), Body Depth (BD), Head Width (HW), and Average Daily Gain (ADG) were recorded from 1413 animals belonging to 78 fullsib families produced by adopting single pair mating design, after one year of pond culture (traits at harvest). Genetic parameters were also estimated for body weight (BW0) and total length (TL0) measured from 2328 fish from 78 fullsib families at the time of stocking. Magur attained an average BW of 135 g and 24.5 cm TL after one year culture period. The heritabilities of BW, TL, and ADG were 0.44 ± 0.07, 0.32 ± 0.06, and 0.42 ± 0.07, respectively and may be biased upwardly due to the single pair mating design. Genetic correlations between harvest traits were all positive and varied in magnitude between traits (0.74 to 0.99). The results obtained from the current study indicate the presence of genetic variation in magur population for growth traits and selection based on genetic merit can produce improvement in these traits.
Highlights
Clarias magur (Hamilton 1822) is an Indian catfish popularly known as magur and is distributed across India, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, and other countries (Ng and Kottelat, 2008)
It ensures the availability of quality seed on demand, optimizes the production efficiency, and most importantly, it reduces the pressure on natural stocks
Magur being a catfish is a suitable species for monoculture with high stocking density; due to its low reproductive rate, monoculture at present may not be feasible
Summary
Clarias magur (Hamilton 1822) is an Indian catfish popularly known as magur and is distributed across India, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, and other countries (Ng and Kottelat, 2008). Magur has the potential to be a candidate species for freshwater aquaculture in India. Magur fetches a better market price due to its high consumer preference, good taste, and nutritional profile (Sinha et al, 2014). The lack of good quality seed in sufficient quantity is the primary constraint for the commercial aquaculture of magur. Magur culture is based on the broodfish/seeds collected from natural breeding grounds, which eventually put pressure on natural stocks. The genetic improvement program will help to supply the desired number of high-quality broodfish to establish commercial hatcheries, and is an important longterm and sustainable way to increase the magur aquaculture in India
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