Effects of Different Cultivation Modes on Morphological Traits and Correlations between Traits and Body Mass of Crayfish ( Procambarus clarkii )

• Published in: Biology (Basel, Switzerland) Switzerland), 2024-05, Vol.13 (6), p.395
• Main Authors: Li, Jinlong, Qin, Qin, Tian, Xing, Guo, Jiarong, Tang, Bowen, He, Zhigang, Xie, Zhonggui, Wang, Yude, Wang, Dongwu
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Ammonia; Aquaculture; Aquaculture industry; Aquatic plants; Body length; Body mass; Body weight; cephalothorax; Chelicerae; Correlation analysis; crayfish; cultivation mode; Decision making; Developmental stages; Environmental factors; equations; eyes; Females; Fresh water; gender; juveniles; Mathematical models; morphological traits; Morphology; Nitrogen; paddies; Physical characteristics; Population studies; Procambarus clarkii; Variables; Water temperature
• ISSN: 2079-7737; 2079-7737
• DOI: 10.3390/biology13060395

In this study, juvenile crayfish hatched from the same population were cultured in different growing environments: pond ( ), paddy field ( ), and aquaculture barrel ( ), and fed for 60 days. Crayfishes were selected randomly, females and males, 50 tails each from six groups (D1-♀, D1-♂, D2-♀, D2-♂, D3-♀, D3-♂) to measure the following morphological traits: full length ( ), body length ( ), chelicerae length ( ), chelicerae weight ( ), cephalothorax length ( ), cephalothorax width ( ), cephalothorax height ( ), eye spacing ( ), caudal peduncle length ( ), and caudal peduncle weight ( ). We found that the coefficient of variation (CV) of was the largest in each culture mode, and males (28.58%~38.67%) were larger than females (37.76%~66.74%). The CV of of crayfish cultured in and was larger than that of . All traits except were positively correlated with body weight ( < 0.05). After pathway analysis, we found that , , , and were significantly correlated with the body weight of D1-♀; the equation was = -29.803 + 1.249 + 0.505 + 0.701 + 1.483 ( = 0.947). However, , , and were significantly correlated with the body weight of D1-♂; the equation was = -40.881 + 0.39 + 0.845 + 1.142 ( = 0.927). In D2-♀, , , , and were significantly correlated with body weight; the equation was = -12.248 + 0.088 + 1.098 + 0.275 + 0.904 ( = 0.977). and played a major role in the body weight of D2-♂ with the equation: = -24.871 + 1.177 + 0.902 ( = 0.973). and mainly contributed to the body weight of D3-♀ with the equation: = -22.476 + 0.432 + 3.153 ( = 0.976). and mainly contributed to the body weight of D3-♂ with the equation: = -34.434 + 0.363 + 0.669 ( = 0.918). Comparing the pathway analysis with the gray relation analysis, we could conclude that the traits most correlated with body weight in D1-♀ were and ; in D1-♂, ; in D2-♀, , , and ; in D2-♂, ; in D3-♀, ; and in D3-♂, and .