Genetic additive components of the exoskeleton mineral profile and their genetic relationship with growth traits in Penaeus vannamei

Introduction The aquaculture industry faces challenges due to the limited availability and environmental impact of fishmeal. As alternative diets are adopted, mineral supplementation through feed, water, or substrate has become essential to sustain shrimp performance. A promising but unexplored approach is genetic selection to enhance mineral content, offering a sustainable complement to supplementation strategies. This work represents the first study of genetic parameters for mineral content in the most widely produced aquaculture species, the white leg shrimp. Methods To this aim, 388 shrimp from 79 full-sib and 18 half-sib families of the PMG-BIOGEMAR© breeding program selected focused on growth by harvest weight under low salinity industrial conditions in Ecuador were analyzed. Animals were sampled at harvest size and transferred to the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria to measure weight and length, and mineral concentrations of their exoskeletons by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. Genetic parameters for these traits were obtained by Bayesian estimation method. Results and Discussion Genetic parameters for these traits were obtained by Bayesian estimation method. Interestingly, the concentration of Cu, Na, K, Mg, Ca, and P presented medium heritability (from 0.20 to 0.42), the highest being Cu. While Fe, Mn, and Zn showed low heritability (from 0.07 to 0.18), the lowest being Fe. Overall, the genetic correlations estimated among minerals suggest that their levels can be improved simultaneously through genetic selection, offering a viable strategy to face the future challenges of shrimp production in low-salinity environments. However, the lengthy time and high costs of the mineral analysis could prompt the consideration of modulating mineral content through indirect selection based on a growth trait with high genetic correlations (positives or negatives) with mineral content. Thus, positive indirect selection can be applied to increase Ca and Mg levels, while negative indirect selection for Fe, Zn, and Cu may help maintain balanced concentrations and mitigate the effects of anthropogenic inputs.