Maternal, dominance and additive genetic effects in Nile tilapia; influence on growth, fillet yield and body size traits

There are only few studies of dominance effects in non-inbred aquaculture species, since commonly used mating designs often have low power to separate dominance, maternal and common environmental effects. Here, a factorial design with reciprocal cross, common rearing of eggs and subsequent lifecycle stages and pedigree assignment using DNA microsatellites was used to separate these effects and estimate dominance (d ) and maternal (m ) ratios in Nile tilapia for six commercial traits. The study included observations on 2524 offspring from 155 full-sib families. Substantial contributions of dominance were observed (P