Evaluation of aquaculture performance of seven populations of Trionyx sinensis from larvae to adult stage

For the seven representative populations of soft2shelled turtle ( Trionyx sinensis ) in China , an experiment in aquaculture performance from larvae to adult stage , was carried out in green2house with constant temperature (30 ℃) and lasted over 300d by randomized block design. The major results were : (1) There was a highlysignificant differenceindailyindividual bodyweight gainamong 7populations ( F > 0. 01) , and the order was Yellow River population > Huai River population > Poyang Lake population≈ Dongting Lake population > Taiwan population > Chongming population > Taihu Lake population. The Yellow River population was higher than others significantly ( t > 0. 01) . (2) The daily average yield per square meter among 7 populations was highly significant ( F > 0. 01) , the order was Yellow River population > Huai River population > Dongting Lake population ≈ Poyang Lake population > Taiwan population > Taihu Lake > Chongming population , and Yellow River population was also higher than the other populations significantly ( t > 0. 01) . (3) The individual variation of growth rate was remarkable either within a population , or among popualtions , and the ratio of maximum body weight / minimum body weight was the lowest in the Yellow River turtle , e . g . 5 . 6 ( ♀) ～8. 3( ♂), andhighestinthe Chongmingturtle, e.g. ,17.1( ♀) ～17. 7( ♂) . The coefficient of variation of body weight was lowest in Yellow River turtle. (4) In general , the sex ratio of 7 populations was 50. 7 % ( ♀) : 49.3%( ♂), maleturtles growfasterthanfemale ones by 8.4%( t > 0. 01) .