Genetic differences between the Chinese and European races of the common carp

Abstract

Growth rate of 12 groups of common carp was measured at five experimental environments. Three of the 12 tested groups were strains of the domesticated European race of the common carp, one group was a representative of the Big-Belly Chinese race, and the remaining eight groups were F₁ crossbreds among the European strains and between the European and the Chinese races. The average growth rate over the five environments of the Chinese Big-Belly was considerably poorer than that of the European carp. All the inter-race crossbreds and the crossbreds among the European strains showed heterosis. When the genotype-environment interaction was presented as a linear function of the quality of the environment, the regression coefficient (the overall responsiveness parameter) assumed relatively low values in the Big-Belly and two to two-and-a-half fold higher values in the European carp. The overall responsiveness of crossbreds was, on the average, intermediate between the two parents. When, however, it was partitioned into a scale function of the average genotype and specific independent responsiveness, the two components showed a high degree of heterosis but in opposite directions. An explanation of this genetic system in terms of adaptive evolution to the diverse modes of carp domestication in Europe and China was given.