Abstract:
We observed the shell length and survival between different coefficients of inbreeding to study the inbreeding depression for orange strain of Manila clam (
Ruditapes philippinarum) through experiments. Four experimental groups were established, including first generation of half-sib (H
1,
F=0.125), first generation of full-sib (F
1,
F=0.250), fourth generation of full-sib (F
4,
F=0.594) and the control group (C
1,
F=0). The results show that the shell length of F
1 is smaller than that of other groups at larval, juvenile, and grow-out stages. One-way ANOVA indicates that the difference in shell length is significant (
P < 0.05) between F
1 and other groups at juvenile and grow-out stages, and that there are no significant differences among H
1, F
4 and C
1. The growth rate of shell length in F
1 decreases significantly, with a inbreeding depression rate ranging from 2.92% to 18.33%, of which the mean value is (12.05±6.54) %. Shell length in H
1 has a depression at juvenile and grow-out stages as well. However, there is no inbreeding depression of length in F
4 at any stages. There are no inbreeding depression of survival for H
1, F
1 and F
4, as of which the survival rates are higher than that of control group C
1. The results in this study suggest a basic theory to select the strain of Manila clam with orange shell color using the full-sib family.