Family based selective breeding program was initiated at ICAR-Central Institute of Freshwater Aquaculture (CIFA) for catla, Catla catla to enhance growth performance in poly culture practices. For establishment of base population nine stocks were collected from different hatcheries and riverine sources of India from and the states are West Bengal, Bihar, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh. Two riverine sources i.e. Ganga and Subernarekha were added among the nine stocks collected for base population. They were brought to CIFA at fry stage and reared separately till fingerlings size. After tagging individually with Passive Integrated Transponder (PIT) tag, they were stocked in three communal ponds for one year culture.
After one year of culture, individual live body weight was measured. After pond effect correction, wide range of variation was observed among and between stocks. Ganga Riverine stock collected from Patna, Bihar showed significantly higher growth performance than other hatchery and riverine stocks.
Microsatellite markers were used to estimate genetic differences of different stocks of catla using pair wise FST estimates. Overall multi locus FST, including all loci was estimated to be 0.4137 (p <0.05), indicating genetic heterogeneity among them. Both phenotypic as well as microsatellite data was used to optimize base population participation in the catla breeding program for a long term breeding program.
In the first generation, 50 fullsib families were produced considering both growth and heterozygosity level as per their ranking. Combined selection method was used for breeding value estimation. On farm testing of first generation improved strain of catla conducted in West Bengal, Bihar, Assam and Tamil Nadu revealed its superior performance over local catla. As one of the most preferred and cultured carp of India, its growth enhancement through selective breeding will support fish farmers to increase the production level in a greater extend.
Keywords: Catla catla, selective breeding, microsatellite markers, PIT tags, heterozygosity