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Full Research Article

volume 60 advancing animal health and productivity for a sustainable one health ecosystem : 15-23,   Doi: 10.18805/IJAR.B-5806

Comparative Study of Growth and Carcass Traits in a Genetically Improved Strain of Jayanti Rohu Cultured in Freshwater and Low-salinity Pond Conditions

A
Avinash R. Rasal1,*
0000-0001-6880-971X
S
Shrinivas Jahageerdar2
0000-0003-1968-7052
K
Khuntia Murmu1
0000-0002-8805-9642
J
Jitendra K. Sundaray1
0000-0001-9311-0636
N
Naresh S. Nagpure2
0000-0001-9165-3266
M
Madhulita Patnaik1
0000-0003-0586-7319
J
Jayant K. Swain1
0000-0001-6992-1535
K
Kanta D. Mahapatra1,*
0000-0002-2529-2180
1ICAR-Central Institute of Freshwater Aquaculture, Kausalyaganga, Bhubaneswar-751 002, Odisha, India.
2ICAR-Central Institute of Fisheries Education, Mumbai-400 061, Maharashtra, India.
Cite article:- Rasal R. Avinash, Jahageerdar Shrinivas, Murmu Khuntia, Sundaray K. Jitendra, Nagpure S. Naresh, Patnaik Madhulita, Swain K. Jayant, Mahapatra D. Kanta (2026). Comparative Study of Growth and Carcass Traits in a Genetically Improved Strain of Jayanti Rohu Cultured in Freshwater and Low-salinity Pond Conditions . Indian Journal of Animal Research. 60(0): 15-23. doi: 10.18805/IJAR.B-5806.

ABSTRACT

Background: The study evaluated the effects of family, pond, sex and culture system on growth and carcass traits in genetically improved strain of Jayanti rohu under freshwater and low-salinity conditions, with relevance for expanding aquaculture into salinity-affected areas.

Methods: A total of 1,252 fingerlings from 42 full-sib families (2021 year-class, 12th generation) were stocked at 5,000 fingerlings/hectare (ha) in two freshwater and two low-saline (4-7 ppt) ponds for 12 months. Growth traits were measured at tagging, mid-culture (6 months) and harvest (12 months), while seven carcass traits were recorded on 711 harvested fish, with crude muscle fat evaluated in 600 specimens.

Result: The mean harvest weight was 865.43±4.17 g with 89.1% survival. Crucially, no significant differences in mean body weight were observed between the culture systems, indicating strong adaptability of the strain. Crude muscle fat was significantly higher in low-salinity ponds (10.63%) than freshwater (9.67%) (p<0.05). Average carcass composition included 61.06% dressing yield, 21.7% head weight, 17.25% carcass waste and 10.03% crude fat. Sex significantly influenced traits from mid-culture onward, with females achieving 9.4% higher harvest weight and superior dressing yields (p<0.05). Pond and culture system had minimal effects, while strong positive correlations between harvest weight and carcass traits confirmed proportional relationships (p<0.05). Overall, these findings demonstrate the substantial potential of Jayanti rohu for low-saline ponds without compromising growth or carcass quality.

INTRODUCTION

Indian major carps (IMCs), namely catla (Labeo catla), rohu (Labeo rohita) and mrigal (Cirrhinus mrigala), constitute the backbone of freshwater aquaculture in India and are widely reared in polyculture systems to maximize pond productivity. Among these, rohu is an economically predominant freshwater aquaculture species in South Asia, contributing over 60% of carp production due to its high consumer preference and market demand (Rasal and Sundaray, 2020; Kumar et al., 2022).
       
With capture fisheries stagnant and facing climate change challenges, aquaculture must meet expanding global demand for aquatic food, projected at 109 million tonnes by 2030 (FAO, 2020; Singh et al., 2025). In this scenario, genetic improvement has significantly enhanced aquaculture productivity and farmer profitability through superior growth, better feed efficiency and higher yield. Despite delivering ~12.5% growth gain per generation, only 10-20% of global aquaculture currently relies on genetically improved stocks (Houston et al., 2022). The Jayanti rohu, is a genetically improved strain of rohu, widely adopted across more than 100,000 ha of culture area in India, due to its superior growth performance and disease resistance against Aeromonas hydrophila (Mahapatra et al., 2017; Saikia et al., 2020; Rasal et al., 2023).
       
India currently contends with approximately 6.74 million hectares (ha) of salt-affected land, with its extent expanding by 10% annually (Kumar and Sharma, 2020). Converting these salt-affected areas into commercial aquaculture hubs offers a strategic pathway toward economic profitability and land restoration (Tarolli et al., 2024). The Jayanti rohu has shown immense potential for culture in low-salinity zones (<6.0 ppt), with acceptable survival and growth (Murmu et al., 2019; Hoque et al., 2020).
       
Carcass traits are critical economic indicators influencing fillet yield, flesh quality and market value (Neira et al., 2004). Fernandes et al. (2015) reported carcass yield of 56-59% in Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) at different ages while Saillant et al. (2009) stated total viscera (10.5±2.3%), visceral fat (6.9±2.0%), fillets (33.7±2.4%), fish head (20.7±1.9%) and filleting waste products (34.3±2.0%) in Dicentrarchus labrax. To date, no study has simultaneously evaluated growth performance and carcass traits of genetically improved carp strains under both freshwater and low-salinity pond conditions. Therefore, the present study aim to know the effects of different non-genetic and genetic factors on growth and carcass trait of Jayanti rohu and also to compare growth potential of Jayanti rohu in freshwater and low saline pond condition.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Fingerlings were derived from 42 full-sib families of the 2021 year-class Jayanti rohu (12th generation) from the ongoing selective breeding program at ICAR-CIFA, Bhubaneswar, India. A total of 1,252 fingerlings (39.25±0.82 g) were individually tagged using Passive Integrated Transponder (PIT) tags after seven months of separate nursery rearing. The tagged fish were randomly stocked in two freshwater ponds (0.1 ha each) at ICAR-CIFA and two low-salinity ponds (4-7 ppt; 0.1 ha each) at Brahmagiri, Odisha @ of 5,000 fingerlings/ha comprising 80% Jayanti rohu (400 numbers) and 20% catla (100 numbers) and reared for 12 months (April 2022-April 2023) following standard aquaculture practices. Before stocking the fingerlings to low saline ponds they were acclimatized for one hour in the same pond by adding pond water (low saline) in the oxygen packed bag slowly and then released them in the pond. The sampling conducted at 6 months and final harvest after 12 months of communal pond rearing. The water quality parameters were monitored monthly and remained within suitable ranges (Table 1). Fish were fed with CIFA-Carp GrowerTM feed (28% Protein and 4% Fat) at 5% of body weight during the initial two months and 3% thereafter. The feeding ration was adjusted by sampling the fishes (50 no.) from each pond on monthly basis and estimating average biomass considering 90% survival.

Table 1: Water quality parameters recorded from freshwater and low salinity ponds.


       
Condition factor ‘K’ was estimated using Froese, 2006 equation i.e.,
 
K = W × 100/L3 
 
Where,
K = Condition factor.
W = Observed body weight (g).
L = Observed length of fish (cm).
       
At harvest, 711 fish were sacrificed with overdose of 2-phenoxy ethanol (1 ml/L) and the sex was recorded by visual inspection of gonads and for remaining fish based on secondary sexual characters like roughness of pectoral fin. Carcass traits measured were calculated as:

CW = Live weight (BW3) minus total viscera, head, fin and scale weight

 
Carcass waste (CaWa) = Weight of viscera, fins and scales



 
The crude fat estimation was done using Soxhlet apparatus.

 
The statistical data analysis was performed using SAS OnDemand for Academics (https://welcome.oda.sas.com/).  A general linear model (PROC GLM) was fitted to estimate least square means and the significant effects of various genetic and non-genetic factors. For analysis of BW2 and BW3, body weight at stocking (tagging), for TL2 and TL3, total length at stocking and for carcass traits body weight at harvest was used as covariate employing model 1. Pairwise comparison of means was carried out using the Tukey-Kramer test, with a significance threshold established at 0.05.
 
            Yijklm = µ + BW1i + fj + ck +  sl + p(c)mk + eijklm             ….model 
 
Where,
Yijklm: mth record of fish belonging to jth full-sib family and kth culture system, mth pond and lth sex.
µ: Mean.
BW1i: Effect of body weight at tagging used as a covariate. fj: Fixed effect of full-sib family (f1……..f42).
ck: Fixed effect of culture system (freshwater and low saline).
sl: Fixed effect of sex (male, female).
p(c)mk: Nesting effect of pond by culture system.
eijklm: Error.
       
The Pearson correlation coefficients (r) among traits were estimated by PROC CORR.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Descriptive statistics and variability of growth and carcass traits in Jayanti rohu
 
The descriptive statistics for growth and carcass traits have been presented in Table 2. At tagging, the mean total length (TL1) and body weight (BW1) were 148.87±0.70 mm and 39.25±0.82 g, at six month sampling 346.11±0.53 mm and 543.11±2.33 g (TL2, BW2) and at harvest 402.68±0.65 mm and 865.43±4.17 g (TL3, BW3) respectively, with 89.1% survival (Table 3) indicating consistent growth. The harvest weight falls within the reported range of 800-1000 g for improved rohu within one year culture (Mahapatra et al., 2017; Shukla and Tripathi, 2022). Carcass traits revealed a mean dressing percentage of 61.06±0.05%, head weight and carcass waste contributing 21.70±0.03% and 17.25±0.04%, respectively (comprising 9.41% viscera, 5.62% scales and 2.23% fins), closely matching values reported by Sahu et al., (2012) for rohu, indicating favorable processing yield. The mean muscle crude fat content  was 10.03±0.07%, within the typical range of 8-12% as reported for carps, influenced by feeding and culture conditions (Asghar et al., 2023). Overall, Jayanti rohu demonstrates desirable growth and carcass characteristics for enhanced aquaculture productivity.

Table 2: Descriptive statistics of growth and carcass traits in the Jayanti strain of rohu.



Table 3: Culture system and pond wise survival of 2021 year class Jayanti rohu.


 
Effect of genetic and environmental factors on growth and carcass traits
 
The mean square and R2 values for growth traits are presented in Table 4 and least squares means in Table 5. Significant differences were observed in the growth traits (TL1, TL2, TL3, BW1, BW2 and BW3) among families (p<0.05), indicating substantial genetic variability, consistent with earlier reports on improved carp strains (Dey et al., 2013). Sex had no significant effect at tagging (p>0.05), however, it became significant during six months and at harvest (p<0.05). Females exhibited 9.4% higher harvest weight (BW3: 913±4.35 g) than males (834±4.47 g). The condition factor for females (1.34±0.004) was significantly higher compared to males at harvest (p<0.05). Similar sexually dimorphic growth patterns, with higher growth and feed efficiency in females, have been reported in carps and other fish species (Sutthakiet et al., 2024). Pond effect was non-significant (p>0.05), suggesting uniform culture conditions and consistent feeding regime. The significant influence of initial body weight (BW1) on harvest weight (BW3) (p<0.05) highlights the importance of stocking size, as also reported earlier (Taher et al., 2021). The culture system has no significant effect on harvest body weight in Jayanti rohu (p>0.05) indicating potential of Jayanti rohu for low saline aquaculture. During the initial six months, Jayanti rohu showed higher growth in freshwater ponds, whereas growth in low-salinity ponds became comparable at later stages, indicating acclimation. Initial reduced growth in low-salinity ponds likely reflects a transient increase in osmoregulatory energy expenditure and physiological stress (Shukla et al., 2024). Over the time, due to acclimation resulted enhance osmoregulatory efficiency, lowering maintenance costs and enabling growth rates to recover to levels comparable with freshwater conditions. The distribution of growth traits at harvest for Jayanti rohu by pond, sex and culture system (Fig 1) and among families (Fig 2) further supports the combined influence of genetic and environmental factors.

Table 4: Mean squares and R2 values of model parameters for growth trait at tagging (TL1, BW1), sampling (TL2, BW2) and final harvest (TL3, BW3) in Jayanti rohu.



Table 5: Pond, culture system and sex wise least squares means and their standard errors for the growth traits at stocking (TL1 and BW1), at sampling (TL2 and BW2) and at harvest (TL3 and BW3) in Jayanti rohu.



Fig 1: Boxplots showing distribution of growth trait at harvest in Jayanti rohu cultured in freshwater and low saline ponds.



Fig 2: Boxplots showing family wise distribution of growth trait in Jayanti rohu at harvest.


       
Mean squares and R2 values for carcass traits are presented in Table 6 and least squares means in Table 7. Significant family-wise variation was observed for all carcass traits in Jayanti rohu (p<0.05), indicating genetic variability. Effect of culture system was non-significant for most carcass traits (p>0.05); however, it significantly influenced muscle crude fat (p<0.05), with higher values in low saline ponds (10.63±0.05) compared to freshwater ponds (9.67±0.04). This may likely reflect altered energy allocation under osmotic stress and aligns with reports of increased lipid deposition under mild salinity; improved feed conversion efficiency after acclimation in low-salinity environments may also promote greater lipid retention in muscle improving fillet quality and consumer acceptability (Wang et al., 2022; Zhou et al., 2024). Sex significantly affected CW, dressing%, CaWa, CaWa% and muscle crude fat% (p<0.05). Males exhibited higher muscle crude fat (10.70±0.04%) than females (9.61±0.04%), due to less mobilization of lipid reserves from muscle for sperm production compared to egg production in female (Kumar et al., 2011). Males also displayed higher dressing percentage (61.81±0.05) compared to females (60.33±0.06) (p<0.05 likely due to less carcass waste. Comparable trends have been reported in carps, where females tend to have higher viscera and gonadal proportions (Ismiyanto et al., 2025).

Table 6: Mean suares and R2 values of model parameters for carcass trait at harvest in Jayanti rohu.



Table 7: Pond, culture system and sex wise least squares means and their standard errors for the carcass traits at harvest in Jayanti rohu.


 
Correlation among growth and carcass trait at harvest and implications under salinity
 
Pearson’s correlation coefficients among growth and carcass traits are presented in Table 8. Body weight at harvest (BW3) revealed strong positive correlations with total length at harvest (r= 0.85) and carcass weight (r= 0.99). These results indicate that carcass traits vary proportionately with growth and selection for body weight can indirectly enhance carcass yield, consistent with earlier findings in fish breeding programs (Schlicht et al., 2019). The strong correlation observed between these traits suggests that integrating these traits in fish breeding programs can simultaneously lead to the production of high-yield, high-quality and market-preferred fish, ultimately enhancing the sustainability and profitability of aquaculture systems.

Table 8: Pearson’s correlation coefficients between growth and carcass traits at harvest in Jayanti rohu.

CONCLUSION

In the era of global climate change and increased salinization of freshwater resources, genetic enhancement can help develop fish strains that are more resilient to changing environmental conditions, such as increased temperatures, salinity or fluctuating water quality parameters. The present study demonstrates that the genetically improved Jayanti rohu exhibits promising growth performance and favorable carcass traits under both freshwater and low saline pond conditions. Moreover, the strong correlations between final body weight and carcass traits reaffirm that growth-based selection remains an effective approach for improving both yield and processing traits. Overall, this study reinforces the superiority of Jayanti rohu for diversified aquaculture owing to its stable growth, favourable carcass profile and enhanced crude muscle fat % under mild salinity stress, underscoring its utility in expanding aquaculture beyond conventional freshwater systems.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

This research was supported by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), Department of Agricultural Research and Education (DARE), Government of India. This study is a part of Ph.D. program of the first author, and he is grateful to the Director, ICAR-Central Institute of Freshwater Aquaculture, Bhubaneswar, India, for providing the funds and infrastructure facilities to conduct this experiment. The authors would like to thank the Director, ICAR-CIFE, Mumbai, for his support in completing the study.
 
Disclaimers
 
The views and conclusions expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views of their affiliated institutions. The authors are responsible for the accuracy and completeness of the information provided, but do not accept any liability for any direct or indirect losses resulting from the use of this content.
 
Ethical statement
 
The present study followed strict ethical guidelines for handling, sacrificing and measuring fish and all the studies performed complied with ICAR-Central Institute of Freshwater Aquaculture Institute Animal Ethics Committee guidelines approval No. F.No.ICAR-CIFA/Eth.Comm,/2025-26/07.

CONFLICT OF INTEREST

The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest.

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    Full Research Article

    Comparative Study of Growth and Carcass Traits in a Genetically Improved Strain of Jayanti Rohu Cultured in Freshwater and Low-salinity Pond Conditions

    A
    Avinash R. Rasal1,*
    0000-0001-6880-971X
    S
    Shrinivas Jahageerdar2
    0000-0003-1968-7052
    K
    Khuntia Murmu1
    0000-0002-8805-9642
    J
    Jitendra K. Sundaray1
    0000-0001-9311-0636
    N
    Naresh S. Nagpure2
    0000-0001-9165-3266
    M
    Madhulita Patnaik1
    0000-0003-0586-7319
    J
    Jayant K. Swain1
    0000-0001-6992-1535
    K
    Kanta D. Mahapatra1,*
    0000-0002-2529-2180
    1ICAR-Central Institute of Freshwater Aquaculture, Kausalyaganga, Bhubaneswar-751 002, Odisha, India.
    2ICAR-Central Institute of Fisheries Education, Mumbai-400 061, Maharashtra, India.
    Cite article:- Rasal R. Avinash, Jahageerdar Shrinivas, Murmu Khuntia, Sundaray K. Jitendra, Nagpure S. Naresh, Patnaik Madhulita, Swain K. Jayant, Mahapatra D. Kanta (2026). Comparative Study of Growth and Carcass Traits in a Genetically Improved Strain of Jayanti Rohu Cultured in Freshwater and Low-salinity Pond Conditions . Indian Journal of Animal Research. 60(0): 15-23. doi: 10.18805/IJAR.B-5806.

    ABSTRACT

    Background: The study evaluated the effects of family, pond, sex and culture system on growth and carcass traits in genetically improved strain of Jayanti rohu under freshwater and low-salinity conditions, with relevance for expanding aquaculture into salinity-affected areas.

    Methods: A total of 1,252 fingerlings from 42 full-sib families (2021 year-class, 12th generation) were stocked at 5,000 fingerlings/hectare (ha) in two freshwater and two low-saline (4-7 ppt) ponds for 12 months. Growth traits were measured at tagging, mid-culture (6 months) and harvest (12 months), while seven carcass traits were recorded on 711 harvested fish, with crude muscle fat evaluated in 600 specimens.

    Result: The mean harvest weight was 865.43±4.17 g with 89.1% survival. Crucially, no significant differences in mean body weight were observed between the culture systems, indicating strong adaptability of the strain. Crude muscle fat was significantly higher in low-salinity ponds (10.63%) than freshwater (9.67%) (p<0.05). Average carcass composition included 61.06% dressing yield, 21.7% head weight, 17.25% carcass waste and 10.03% crude fat. Sex significantly influenced traits from mid-culture onward, with females achieving 9.4% higher harvest weight and superior dressing yields (p<0.05). Pond and culture system had minimal effects, while strong positive correlations between harvest weight and carcass traits confirmed proportional relationships (p<0.05). Overall, these findings demonstrate the substantial potential of Jayanti rohu for low-saline ponds without compromising growth or carcass quality.

    INTRODUCTION

    Indian major carps (IMCs), namely catla (Labeo catla), rohu (Labeo rohita) and mrigal (Cirrhinus mrigala), constitute the backbone of freshwater aquaculture in India and are widely reared in polyculture systems to maximize pond productivity. Among these, rohu is an economically predominant freshwater aquaculture species in South Asia, contributing over 60% of carp production due to its high consumer preference and market demand (Rasal and Sundaray, 2020; Kumar et al., 2022).
           
    With capture fisheries stagnant and facing climate change challenges, aquaculture must meet expanding global demand for aquatic food, projected at 109 million tonnes by 2030 (FAO, 2020; Singh et al., 2025). In this scenario, genetic improvement has significantly enhanced aquaculture productivity and farmer profitability through superior growth, better feed efficiency and higher yield. Despite delivering ~12.5% growth gain per generation, only 10-20% of global aquaculture currently relies on genetically improved stocks (Houston et al., 2022). The Jayanti rohu, is a genetically improved strain of rohu, widely adopted across more than 100,000 ha of culture area in India, due to its superior growth performance and disease resistance against Aeromonas hydrophila (Mahapatra et al., 2017; Saikia et al., 2020; Rasal et al., 2023).
           
    India currently contends with approximately 6.74 million hectares (ha) of salt-affected land, with its extent expanding by 10% annually (Kumar and Sharma, 2020). Converting these salt-affected areas into commercial aquaculture hubs offers a strategic pathway toward economic profitability and land restoration (Tarolli et al., 2024). The Jayanti rohu has shown immense potential for culture in low-salinity zones (<6.0 ppt), with acceptable survival and growth (Murmu et al., 2019; Hoque et al., 2020).
           
    Carcass traits are critical economic indicators influencing fillet yield, flesh quality and market value (Neira et al., 2004). Fernandes et al. (2015) reported carcass yield of 56-59% in Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) at different ages while Saillant et al. (2009) stated total viscera (10.5±2.3%), visceral fat (6.9±2.0%), fillets (33.7±2.4%), fish head (20.7±1.9%) and filleting waste products (34.3±2.0%) in Dicentrarchus labrax. To date, no study has simultaneously evaluated growth performance and carcass traits of genetically improved carp strains under both freshwater and low-salinity pond conditions. Therefore, the present study aim to know the effects of different non-genetic and genetic factors on growth and carcass trait of Jayanti rohu and also to compare growth potential of Jayanti rohu in freshwater and low saline pond condition.

    MATERIALS AND METHODS

    Fingerlings were derived from 42 full-sib families of the 2021 year-class Jayanti rohu (12th generation) from the ongoing selective breeding program at ICAR-CIFA, Bhubaneswar, India. A total of 1,252 fingerlings (39.25±0.82 g) were individually tagged using Passive Integrated Transponder (PIT) tags after seven months of separate nursery rearing. The tagged fish were randomly stocked in two freshwater ponds (0.1 ha each) at ICAR-CIFA and two low-salinity ponds (4-7 ppt; 0.1 ha each) at Brahmagiri, Odisha @ of 5,000 fingerlings/ha comprising 80% Jayanti rohu (400 numbers) and 20% catla (100 numbers) and reared for 12 months (April 2022-April 2023) following standard aquaculture practices. Before stocking the fingerlings to low saline ponds they were acclimatized for one hour in the same pond by adding pond water (low saline) in the oxygen packed bag slowly and then released them in the pond. The sampling conducted at 6 months and final harvest after 12 months of communal pond rearing. The water quality parameters were monitored monthly and remained within suitable ranges (Table 1). Fish were fed with CIFA-Carp GrowerTM feed (28% Protein and 4% Fat) at 5% of body weight during the initial two months and 3% thereafter. The feeding ration was adjusted by sampling the fishes (50 no.) from each pond on monthly basis and estimating average biomass considering 90% survival.

    Table 1: Water quality parameters recorded from freshwater and low salinity ponds.


           
    Condition factor ‘K’ was estimated using Froese, 2006 equation i.e.,
     
    K = W × 100/L3 
     
    Where,
    K = Condition factor.
    W = Observed body weight (g).
    L = Observed length of fish (cm).
           
    At harvest, 711 fish were sacrificed with overdose of 2-phenoxy ethanol (1 ml/L) and the sex was recorded by visual inspection of gonads and for remaining fish based on secondary sexual characters like roughness of pectoral fin. Carcass traits measured were calculated as:

    CW = Live weight (BW3) minus total viscera, head, fin and scale weight

     
    Carcass waste (CaWa) = Weight of viscera, fins and scales



     
    The crude fat estimation was done using Soxhlet apparatus.

     
    The statistical data analysis was performed using SAS OnDemand for Academics (https://welcome.oda.sas.com/).  A general linear model (PROC GLM) was fitted to estimate least square means and the significant effects of various genetic and non-genetic factors. For analysis of BW2 and BW3, body weight at stocking (tagging), for TL2 and TL3, total length at stocking and for carcass traits body weight at harvest was used as covariate employing model 1. Pairwise comparison of means was carried out using the Tukey-Kramer test, with a significance threshold established at 0.05.
     
                Yijklm = µ + BW1i + fj + ck +  sl + p(c)mk + eijklm             ….model 
     
    Where,
    Yijklm: mth record of fish belonging to jth full-sib family and kth culture system, mth pond and lth sex.
    µ: Mean.
    BW1i: Effect of body weight at tagging used as a covariate. fj: Fixed effect of full-sib family (f1……..f42).
    ck: Fixed effect of culture system (freshwater and low saline).
    sl: Fixed effect of sex (male, female).
    p(c)mk: Nesting effect of pond by culture system.
    eijklm: Error.
           
    The Pearson correlation coefficients (r) among traits were estimated by PROC CORR.

    RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

    Descriptive statistics and variability of growth and carcass traits in Jayanti rohu
     
    The descriptive statistics for growth and carcass traits have been presented in Table 2. At tagging, the mean total length (TL1) and body weight (BW1) were 148.87±0.70 mm and 39.25±0.82 g, at six month sampling 346.11±0.53 mm and 543.11±2.33 g (TL2, BW2) and at harvest 402.68±0.65 mm and 865.43±4.17 g (TL3, BW3) respectively, with 89.1% survival (Table 3) indicating consistent growth. The harvest weight falls within the reported range of 800-1000 g for improved rohu within one year culture (Mahapatra et al., 2017; Shukla and Tripathi, 2022). Carcass traits revealed a mean dressing percentage of 61.06±0.05%, head weight and carcass waste contributing 21.70±0.03% and 17.25±0.04%, respectively (comprising 9.41% viscera, 5.62% scales and 2.23% fins), closely matching values reported by Sahu et al., (2012) for rohu, indicating favorable processing yield. The mean muscle crude fat content  was 10.03±0.07%, within the typical range of 8-12% as reported for carps, influenced by feeding and culture conditions (Asghar et al., 2023). Overall, Jayanti rohu demonstrates desirable growth and carcass characteristics for enhanced aquaculture productivity.

    Table 2: Descriptive statistics of growth and carcass traits in the Jayanti strain of rohu.



    Table 3: Culture system and pond wise survival of 2021 year class Jayanti rohu.


     
    Effect of genetic and environmental factors on growth and carcass traits
     
    The mean square and R2 values for growth traits are presented in Table 4 and least squares means in Table 5. Significant differences were observed in the growth traits (TL1, TL2, TL3, BW1, BW2 and BW3) among families (p<0.05), indicating substantial genetic variability, consistent with earlier reports on improved carp strains (Dey et al., 2013). Sex had no significant effect at tagging (p>0.05), however, it became significant during six months and at harvest (p<0.05). Females exhibited 9.4% higher harvest weight (BW3: 913±4.35 g) than males (834±4.47 g). The condition factor for females (1.34±0.004) was significantly higher compared to males at harvest (p<0.05). Similar sexually dimorphic growth patterns, with higher growth and feed efficiency in females, have been reported in carps and other fish species (Sutthakiet et al., 2024). Pond effect was non-significant (p>0.05), suggesting uniform culture conditions and consistent feeding regime. The significant influence of initial body weight (BW1) on harvest weight (BW3) (p<0.05) highlights the importance of stocking size, as also reported earlier (Taher et al., 2021). The culture system has no significant effect on harvest body weight in Jayanti rohu (p>0.05) indicating potential of Jayanti rohu for low saline aquaculture. During the initial six months, Jayanti rohu showed higher growth in freshwater ponds, whereas growth in low-salinity ponds became comparable at later stages, indicating acclimation. Initial reduced growth in low-salinity ponds likely reflects a transient increase in osmoregulatory energy expenditure and physiological stress (Shukla et al., 2024). Over the time, due to acclimation resulted enhance osmoregulatory efficiency, lowering maintenance costs and enabling growth rates to recover to levels comparable with freshwater conditions. The distribution of growth traits at harvest for Jayanti rohu by pond, sex and culture system (Fig 1) and among families (Fig 2) further supports the combined influence of genetic and environmental factors.

    Table 4: Mean squares and R2 values of model parameters for growth trait at tagging (TL1, BW1), sampling (TL2, BW2) and final harvest (TL3, BW3) in Jayanti rohu.



    Table 5: Pond, culture system and sex wise least squares means and their standard errors for the growth traits at stocking (TL1 and BW1), at sampling (TL2 and BW2) and at harvest (TL3 and BW3) in Jayanti rohu.



    Fig 1: Boxplots showing distribution of growth trait at harvest in Jayanti rohu cultured in freshwater and low saline ponds.



    Fig 2: Boxplots showing family wise distribution of growth trait in Jayanti rohu at harvest.


           
    Mean squares and R2 values for carcass traits are presented in Table 6 and least squares means in Table 7. Significant family-wise variation was observed for all carcass traits in Jayanti rohu (p<0.05), indicating genetic variability. Effect of culture system was non-significant for most carcass traits (p>0.05); however, it significantly influenced muscle crude fat (p<0.05), with higher values in low saline ponds (10.63±0.05) compared to freshwater ponds (9.67±0.04). This may likely reflect altered energy allocation under osmotic stress and aligns with reports of increased lipid deposition under mild salinity; improved feed conversion efficiency after acclimation in low-salinity environments may also promote greater lipid retention in muscle improving fillet quality and consumer acceptability (Wang et al., 2022; Zhou et al., 2024). Sex significantly affected CW, dressing%, CaWa, CaWa% and muscle crude fat% (p<0.05). Males exhibited higher muscle crude fat (10.70±0.04%) than females (9.61±0.04%), due to less mobilization of lipid reserves from muscle for sperm production compared to egg production in female (Kumar et al., 2011). Males also displayed higher dressing percentage (61.81±0.05) compared to females (60.33±0.06) (p<0.05 likely due to less carcass waste. Comparable trends have been reported in carps, where females tend to have higher viscera and gonadal proportions (Ismiyanto et al., 2025).

    Table 6: Mean suares and R2 values of model parameters for carcass trait at harvest in Jayanti rohu.



    Table 7: Pond, culture system and sex wise least squares means and their standard errors for the carcass traits at harvest in Jayanti rohu.


     
    Correlation among growth and carcass trait at harvest and implications under salinity
     
    Pearson’s correlation coefficients among growth and carcass traits are presented in Table 8. Body weight at harvest (BW3) revealed strong positive correlations with total length at harvest (r= 0.85) and carcass weight (r= 0.99). These results indicate that carcass traits vary proportionately with growth and selection for body weight can indirectly enhance carcass yield, consistent with earlier findings in fish breeding programs (Schlicht et al., 2019). The strong correlation observed between these traits suggests that integrating these traits in fish breeding programs can simultaneously lead to the production of high-yield, high-quality and market-preferred fish, ultimately enhancing the sustainability and profitability of aquaculture systems.

    Table 8: Pearson’s correlation coefficients between growth and carcass traits at harvest in Jayanti rohu.

    CONCLUSION

    In the era of global climate change and increased salinization of freshwater resources, genetic enhancement can help develop fish strains that are more resilient to changing environmental conditions, such as increased temperatures, salinity or fluctuating water quality parameters. The present study demonstrates that the genetically improved Jayanti rohu exhibits promising growth performance and favorable carcass traits under both freshwater and low saline pond conditions. Moreover, the strong correlations between final body weight and carcass traits reaffirm that growth-based selection remains an effective approach for improving both yield and processing traits. Overall, this study reinforces the superiority of Jayanti rohu for diversified aquaculture owing to its stable growth, favourable carcass profile and enhanced crude muscle fat % under mild salinity stress, underscoring its utility in expanding aquaculture beyond conventional freshwater systems.

    ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

    This research was supported by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), Department of Agricultural Research and Education (DARE), Government of India. This study is a part of Ph.D. program of the first author, and he is grateful to the Director, ICAR-Central Institute of Freshwater Aquaculture, Bhubaneswar, India, for providing the funds and infrastructure facilities to conduct this experiment. The authors would like to thank the Director, ICAR-CIFE, Mumbai, for his support in completing the study.
     
    Disclaimers
     
    The views and conclusions expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views of their affiliated institutions. The authors are responsible for the accuracy and completeness of the information provided, but do not accept any liability for any direct or indirect losses resulting from the use of this content.
     
    Ethical statement
     
    The present study followed strict ethical guidelines for handling, sacrificing and measuring fish and all the studies performed complied with ICAR-Central Institute of Freshwater Aquaculture Institute Animal Ethics Committee guidelines approval No. F.No.ICAR-CIFA/Eth.Comm,/2025-26/07.

    CONFLICT OF INTEREST

    The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest.

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