Genotype by Environment Interaction for Growth in Atlantic Cod (Gadus morhua L.) in Four Farms of Norway

摘要

We studied genotype by environment interaction (G × E) for body weight (BW) of Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua L.) from the National cod breeding program in Norway. Records of 13,811 fish in a nucleus farm (NUC) and two test farms (PE_North, PE_South) in year-class (YC) 2007, and for 9149 fish in NUC and one test farm in YC 2010 were available. Heterogeneity of variances and heritabilities ( h 2 ) were estimated using a univariate animal model with environmental effects common to full-sibs (full-model). Genetic correlations ( r g ) between farms were estimated using a multivariate full-model and a reduced-model (without c 2 ) for each YC. Heterogeneity of h 2 was observed in both YC 2007 (0.10 to 0.16) and YC 2010 (0.08 to 0.26). The estimates of r g between NUC and test farms were relatively high for both models (0.81 ± 0.19 to 0.96 ± 0.17) and (0.81 ± 0.08 to 0.86 ± 0.04), suggesting low re-ranking of genotypes. Strong re-ranking of genotypes between PE_South and PE_North may be less important because most cod producers are situated close to the breeding nucleus. In conclusion, G × E between NUC and test farms were low and at present there is no need for separate breeding programs for BW in cod.