Evaluation on med-term growth of 9 families of pearl oyster Pinctada facata

In March 2008, taking 4 families established in 2006 as parents, we successfully established 9 families of pearl oyster Pinctada fucata, which were cultured under the same conditions, by incomplete diallel cross method. One-year continuous measurement for the growth traits (shell height, shell length, shell width and total weight) of the 9 families was conducted. Significant difference of those 4 growth traits is observed among different families and at different growth stages (P0.05). The order of the growth rate of shell height, shell length, shell width and total weight is as follows, respectively: F11F4F9F3F6F12F2F7F5, F11F4F3F9F12F2F6F7F5, F6F11F3F9 F4F12F2F5F7, F11F12F9F3F7F2F4F5F6. F11, F4 and F9 grow faster in shell height; F11 grows faster in shell length; F11, F3 and F9 grow faster in shell width; F11, F12 and F9 grow faster in total weight (P0.05). The growth rate of the 4 traits shows significant difference at different growth stages. From October to December, the growth rate of shell length, shell width and shell heightis obviously faster, while from March to May, the growth rate of total weight is. The growth rate of 4 traits shows significant difference among the 9 families atfast growth stage but not at slow one. F11 is selected as the best family for its satisfactory growth traits, which provides excellent genetic materials for the breeding selection, as well as references for the breeding strategies of P.fucata families.