This research was aimed to compare the edible rate and biochemical composition of early-maturing (EM) and late-maturing (LM) Eriocheir sinensis during adult culture stage with the methods of culture experiment,sentisection and biochemical analysis, and individuals without selection were served as the control.The results showed that:(1)No matter for females or males,individuals with similar weight from different groups exhibited no significant difference in gonadosomatic index (GSI), meat yield (MY) and total edible yield (TEY);(2)As for biochemical composition in muscle, hepatopancreas and gonad of females,there were no significant differences in the level of moisture, protein, lipid and ash between different groups though obviously higher level of lipids in the hepatopancreas of EM individuals;(3) As for males, the levels of protein and ash in the gonad of EM individuals were significantly higher than LM individuals and no significant difference existed in other tissues.As a whole, the selective breeding had a little influence on the edible rate yield and biochemical composition of E. sinensis, except for significantly lower HSI, but significantly higher level of protein and ash in the gonad of male EMs compared to LM individuals.