The effects of thermal amplitude on the growth of Chinese shrimp Fenneropenaeus chinensis (Osbeck, 1765)

Effects of thermal amplitude of diel fluctuating temperature on the growth, food consumption, food conversion efficiency and apparent digestibility coefficient of Chinese shrimp, Fenneropenaeus chinensis (Osbeck), with initial body weight of 0.36 ± 0.04 g were studied at average temperature 25, 28 and 31 °C from May to July, 2000. Among four diel different fluctuation amplitudes of ± 1, ± 2, ± 3 and ± 4°C, the growth rate of shrimp at 25 ± 2, 25 ± 3, 28 ± 2 and 31 ± 1 °C were significantly higher than those at corresponding constant temperatures of 25, 28 and 31 °C, respectively, while growth rate at 31 ± 4 °C was significantly lower than at 31 °C. There is a trend that the optimal thermal amplitude for shrimp growth decreased with the increase of average temperature in the present study. The growth rate of Chinese shrimp was a quadratic function of the thermal amplitude at the same average temperature. Such a growth model may be described by$G={\beta }_0+{\beta }_1\left(\mathrm{TA}\right)+{\beta }_2{\left(\mathrm{TA}\right)}^2$where G represents the specific growth rate on a 33-day basis, TA is thermal amplitude in degree Celsius, β₀ is intercept on G axis, and β₁ and β₂ are the regression coefficients. The optimal thermal amplitude for the growth of shrimp at sizes of this experiment at average temperature of 25, 28 and 31 °C was estimated to be ± 2.0, ± 2.2 and ± 1.4 °C, respectively. The changes of food conversion efficiency were similar to the growth rate, while the trends of food consumption of shrimp between fluctuating temperature and constant temperature were variable at different average temperatures. There was no significant difference in apparent digestibility coefficient between diel fluctuating temperatures and corresponding constant temperatures. Therefore, more food consumption, high food conversion efficiency and more energy partitioned into growth might account for the enhancement in the growth of shrimp at the diel fluctuating temperatures in the present study.     

Modelling fish growth: Model selection,multi-model inference and model selection uncertainty

Model selection based on information theory is a relatively new paradigm in biological sciences with several advantages over the classical approaches. The aim of the present study was to apply information theory in the area of modelling fish growth and to show how model selection uncertainty may be taken into account when estimating growth parameters. The methodology was applied for length–age data of four species of fish, taken from the literature. Five-candidate models were fitted to each dataset: von Bertalanffy growth model (VBGM), generalized VBGM, Gompertz growth model, Schnute–Richards growth model, and logistic. In each case, the ‘best’ model was selected by minimizing the small-sample, bias-corrected form of the Akaike information criterion (AIC). To quantify the plausibility of each model, given the data and the set of five models, the ‘Akaike weight’ $w_i$ of each model was calculated. The average model was estimated for each case based on $w_i$. Following a multi-model inference (MMI) approach, the model-averaged asymptotic length ${\overline{L}}_{\infty }$ for each species was estimated, using all five models, by model-averaging estimations of L_∞ and weighting the prediction of each model by $w_i$. In the examples of this study, model selection uncertainty caused a magnification of the standard error of the asymptotic length of the best model (up to 3.9 times) and thus in all four cases estimating L_∞ from just the best model would have caused overestimation of precision of the asymptotic length. The VBGM, when used for inference, without being the best model, could cause biased point estimation and false evaluation of precision. Model selection uncertainty should not be ignored even if VBGM is the best model. Multi-model inference by model-averaging, based on Akaike weights, is recommended for making robust parameter estimations and for dealing with uncertainty in model selection.     

吉富罗非鱼与奥利亚罗非鱼完全双列杂交后代生长性能与肌肉营养成分的比较

以吉富罗非鱼(Oreochromis niloticus)与奥利亚罗非鱼(O.aureus)为繁育亲本,采用完全杂交进行配组,分别对吉富罗非鱼奥利亚罗非鱼纯繁与正反交后代生长性能和肌肉营养成分进行了比较,并且研究了脂代谢相关基因mRNA水平与肌肉脂肪含量的相关性。将初始规格基本一致的4组F1罗非鱼饲养100 d后,吉富罗非鱼纯繁组F1特定生长率最高(P0.05),吉富罗非鱼奥利亚正反交组合无显著差异(P0.05),奥利亚纯繁组F1特定生长率最低(P0.05)。同时,奥利亚纯繁组F1的饲料转化率、肝体比与内脏比指数显著高于其他实验组(P0.05)。各实验组水分、灰分与粗蛋白含量间无显著差异(P0.05),吉富纯繁组F1的粗脂肪含量显著高于其他组合(P0.05)。奥利亚纯繁组F1的必需氨基酸、呈味氨基酸与氨基酸总含量均显著低于其他实验组(P0.05),4组F1的肌肉必需氨基酸组成均符合FAO/WHO的标准。吉富纯繁组F1的饱和脂肪酸、单不饱和脂肪酸、多不饱和脂肪酸以及n-6多不饱和脂肪酸含量均显著高于正反交组合与奥利亚纯繁组F1(P0.05)。肌肉FAS、LPL、HSL和G6PD mRNA水平与脂肪含量的相关性分析表明,FAS与G6PD mRNA水平与肌肉脂肪含量呈负相关,相关系数(R2)分别为0.761 5(P0.01)和0.538 7(P0.05);LPL和HSL mRNA水平与肌肉脂肪含量呈正相关,相关系数分别为0.782 5(P0.01)和0.562 4(P0.05)。研究结果表明,奥利亚纯繁组F1的生长与肌肉营养成分明显劣于其他实验组,证明杂交能够提高后代的生长性能,改良肌肉品质,增加选育的综合效果。同时,吉富罗非鱼奥利亚正反交组合间LPL与G6PD mRNA水平间无显著差异(P0.05),增加肌肉脂肪含量有助于提高LPL和HSL mRNA表达水平。     

不同养殖模式下雌核发育彭泽鲫雌雄鱼性别分化相关基因的表达差异

将同一批经雌核发育产生的F1彭泽鲫(Carassius auratus var.pengze)仔鱼(Pcc)分别置于实验室和池塘进行养殖,结果发现,与池塘养殖雄鱼比例极少相比,实验室养殖中出现了高比例的雄鱼。实验室养殖Pcc F1雄雌比例为(43.6±3.0)%,而池塘养殖Pcc F1雌雄比为(4.7±1.2)%。本研究比较了不同养殖模式下雌雄鱼性腺分化相关基因的表达,结果发现除Pcc-vasa、Pcc-esr1和Pcc-esr2b外,实验室养殖Pcc F1精巢中性腺分化、受体、类固醇合成酶类基因表达极显著(P0.01)或显著(P0.05)高于卵巢中对应基因的表达量。对于池塘养殖的Pcc F1,除Pcc-amh、Pcc-dmrt1b、Pcc-dmrt1c、Pcc-foxl2、Pcc-vasa和Pcc-esr2b外,精巢中性腺分化和受体基因表达极显著(P0.01)或显著(P0.05)高于卵巢中对应基因的表达量;但精巢中绝大部分类固醇合成酶类基因的表达量极显著低于卵巢(P0.01)。实验室和池塘养殖Pcc F1雌雄出现差异表达的基因主要是类固醇合成酶类及调控芳香化酶的转录因子,这些基因的差异表达可能与雌雄激素的合成或调控相关,从而导致不同养殖模式出现不同比例的雄鱼。