Genetic health of Indian major carps: Assessment of effective population size and rate of inbreeding in fish hatcheries of Tamil Nadu, South India

Subramaniyan, M and Yadav, Shiv Kumar and Sakthivel, M and Senthil Kumar, V and Suresh, E (2025) Genetic health of Indian major carps: Assessment of effective population size and rate of inbreeding in fish hatcheries of Tamil Nadu, South India. Indian Journal of Fisheries, 72 (4). pp. 55-60. ISSN 0970-6011

Text Indian Journal of Fisheries_2025_Sakthivel M.pdf Download (1MB)

Abstract

The present study evaluated the genetic health of hatchery populations of the Indian major carps (IMCs), catla Labeo (=Catla) catla), rohu Labeo rohita and mrigal Cirrhinus mrigala in Tamil Nadu, South India. The study was based on the data collected during the 2023-2024 breeding season from 16 private hatcheries and 3 government hatcheries in Tamil Nadu. The estimated effective population size (Nₑ) ranged from 13 to 640 for catla, 18 to 1015 for rohu and 9 to 474 for mrigal. Correspondingly, inbreeding rates varied from 0.08% to 3.89% in catla,0.05% to 2.75% in rohu, and 0.11% to 5.63% in mrigal, indicating varying levels of genetic risk among hatcheries. Effective ways to control and prevent further accumulation of inbreeding are discussed in this paper, in order to improve the genetic quality and long-term sustainability of captive seed production of IMCs.

Actions (login required)

View Item