Morphometric relationships among spermatophore structures and their association with female fertility in the Pacific white shrimp Litopenaeus vannamei

ABSTRACT

Male reproductive performance affects production in shrimp hatcheries. To help better define the criteria required to choose male broodstock, our objective was to study associations among spermatophore morphometric traits and their relationship with fertility. The variables studied were male body weight (MBW), male body length (MBL), spermatophore weight (SW), sperm cell count (SCC), and percentage of live sperm cells (PLS). To evaluate fertility, female body weight (FBW) was considered, as well as the number of eggs in the spawn (NE), hatching percentage (HP), and the number of nauplii (NN). A random sample of 200 males and 200 females from the broodstock population were obtained. Correlations of SW with body MBW and MBL were estimated as 0.86 ± 0.02 and 0.63 ± 0.04 respectively. Correlations between the SCC with MBW and SW were estimated as 0.52 ± 0.05 and 0.61 ± 0.04 respectively. No linear associations were observed between MBW, SW, and SCC, with the NN (P > 0.05). Also, there was no linear relationship between FBW and NN (P > 0.05). On the other hand, FBW and NE were positively correlated (0.33 ± 0.07). HP showed a wide variation (2.6% to 98%) due to the multiple factors associated with artificial insemination.