Abstract: The morphological traits including body weight, fork length, total length, snout length, head length, orbital diameter, head depth, body depth, caudal peduncle length, and caudal peduncle depth were measured in 259 individuals (70 individuals of 6 month old, and 189 individuals of 6 month old) of masou salmonOncorhynchusmasourandomly sampled from a farm in order to analyze effects of morphometric characters on body weight of masou salmon. The results showed that the correlation coefficients between each morphometric characters and body weight were all very significantly different (P<0.01) in the 6 month old salmon, except for the orbital diameter (P<0.05). In the 18 month old salmon, however, the correlation coefficients between each morphometric character and body weight were all very significantly different (P<0.01). Path analysis revealed that fork length, total length and caudal peduncle length had very important effect on body weight of the 6 month old salmon, and the total length, head depth, body depth and caudal peduncle depth showed the key effect on body weight of the 18 month old salmon. The multiple regression equations relating to the body weight were established for the 6, and 18 month old salmon based on the stepwise multiple regression analysis as:Y6=-9.6+1.414FL+3.604HL-1.585CPL, whereY6is body weight, and FL fork length, HL head length, and CPL caudal peduncle length;Y18=-362.624+14.321TL+14.35BD+29.031CPD+14.673HD, whereY18is body weight, TL total length, BD body depth, CPD caudal peduncle depth, and HD head depth. The findings will provide scientific basis for breeding of masou salmon.
2018, Vol. 33 
