Comparisons of growth performance, gonadal development and nutritional composition among monosex and mixed‐sex culture modes in the swimming crab ( <i>portunus trituberculatus</i> )

Abstract

In order to improve the culture efficiency of the swimming crab Portunus trituberculatus, this study was conducted to investigate the effects of three culture modes (all-female monosex group (AFG), all-male monosex group (AMG) and natural sex ratio group (NSG)) on culture performance, gonadal development and muscle nutritional composition of P. trituberculatus. The results showed that (1) the survival rate of crab in AFG was significantly higher than that of crab in AMG, and the crab in AMG grew faster in the early stage of culture, while the crab in AFG grew faster in the later stage of culture. (2) The gonadal index of the crab in AFG was significantly lower than that of NSG at the end of the experiment, and the gonadal index of the crab in AMG was significantly lower than that of NSG in the first sampling time of the experiment. (3) The content of crude protein in muscle of female and male crab in different culture patterns was significantly different. The contents of crude fat, Asp and Glu in muscle of crab in AFG were significantly higher than those of female crab in NSG. Based on these results, we believe that the all-female monosex culture model of P. trituberculatus is feasible, which may become a new pond culture model of P. trituberculatus, and may obtain higher culture benefits than the existing culture models.