Abstract:

In order to provide biological data and a theoretical basis for the design of Antarctic Krill Sheller, the main morphometric attributes affecting the meat weight of Antarctic Krill were studied. A total of 100 Antarctic Krill were collected and the attributes including body length(X₁), carapace length (X₂), abdomen length(X₃), tail fan length(X₄), carapace width(X₅), abdomen width(X₆) and meat weight(Y) were measured. Methods of correlation analysis and path analysis were used to analyze the effects of morphological characteristics on meat weight of Antarctic Krill. The correlation analysis showed that, all correlation coefficients between morphometric attributes and meat weight achieved very significant difference (P<0.01). By path analysis and regression significance test, the abdomen length(X₃) and abdomen width(X₆) were used to establish the multiple regression equation, which was: Y=-0.187+0.008X₃+0.032X₆, and the regression coefficient of the above equation reached significant level (P<0.01). The path coefficients of abdomen length and abdomen width to the meat weight all achieved significant level (P<0.01). These attributes were very indicative of determining the meat weight, among them the abdomen length had the largest direct effect. The carapace length and carapace width affected meat weight indirectly.

Key words: Antarctic Krill, meat weight, morphological characteristics, correlation analysis, path analysis