Comparison of the reproductive performance and their biochemical composition of the wild female E. sinensis broodstock between the Yangtze and Minjiang populations

Abstract:

This study was designed to compare the reproductive performance, embryonic color and biochemical composition of the wild female E. sinensis broodstock between the Yangtze and Minjiang populations. The results showed that: (1) There was no significant differences on egg production, fecundity, reproductive effort, individual egg wet weight and dry weight produced by wild female crabs between the Yangtze river and Minjiang river populations (P>0.05), but wild Yangtze river population had the significantly higher egg diameter than the Minjiang river population (P<0.05); (2) There was no significant difference in the parameters of lightness (L^*), redness (a^*), yellowness (b^*) and color differences (dE^*) (P>0.05); the total carotenoid contents in the eggs were 0.44 and 0.47 mg/g for Yangtze and Minjiang populations, respectively, and there was no significant difference between them; (3) The eggs had the close levels of moisture, crude protein and crude fat between two populations (P>0.05); C16∶0, C18∶0, C16∶1n7, C18∶1n9, C18∶1n7, C18∶2n6, C20∶4n6, C20∶5n3 and C22∶6n3 are the major types of fatty acids in the embryo, and their percentage were more than 4% of total fatty acids. The wild Yangtze population had the significantly higher of C18∶2n6 than the Minjiang population. In conclusion, wild Yangtze and Minjiang populations had the similar reproductive performance and biochemical composition in their eggs, and further researches should be focused on the evaluation of their culture performance and genetic diversity between the two populations.