International Journal of Mol. Ecol. and Conserv 2015, Vol.5, No.6, 1-4
2
hectares (Ukpong et al., 2013).
Procurement and stocking of samples
ninety sample juvenile snails from the snail unit of
Akwa Ibom State Agricultural Development Programme
(AKADEP), Mbiaobong Etoi, Uyo, Akwa Ibom State
and stocked in a concrete pen measuring 2.8 m x 1.5
m x 1 m (length x width x depth). The floor of the pen
was filled with sterilized loamy soil collected from the
departmental arboretum and the top of the pen was
covered with net and mesh wire. They snails were
allowed acclimatization period of two weeks. The
average temperature, relative humidity and photoperiod
during the experimental period (March to June, 2012)
ranged from 26°C to 31°C, 50% to 70% and 12 to 18
h respectively.
Feed Treatment
Ninety (90) five weeks old snailets obtained from
AKADEP were divided into three sets of twenty (30)
snailets each and subjected to three different feed
treatments (A, B and C) using completely randomized
design with three replications. Each snailet was
marked using car paint for identification. Individual
snails in T
A
were indicated using Roman numerals,
while T
B
where indicated using alphabet are T
C
where
indicated by number.
The feed treatment in T
A
comprised vegetable leaves,
fruits, poultry residue, corn mill and soybean residue.
T
B
comprised corn mill, soybean, fruits and vegetable
leaves, while T
C
was made of vegetable leaves and
fruits only (control).
Data Collection
Data were collected on the early growth rate of the
snails fortnightly for four months. The parameters
assessed were; weights of snail, length, width and
aperture of each snail. The body weights were
measured using electronic weighing balance in grams,
Shell length
w
as measured along the axis of the snails
using the measuring tape to the nearest centimeter,
shell width was measured around the largest position
of the shell using also the measuring tape to the
nearest centimeter and
aperture was measured through
the opening apex using also the measuring tape to the
nearest centimeter.
Data Analysis
Data collected were subjected to analysis of variance
(ANOVA) and means separated using least significant
difference (LSD) as outlined by Steel and Torrie (1980)
and Ukpong et al. (2013) at 5% probability level.
Results and Discussion
Mean weight gain for the sample Snails
The results of growth morphology of the juvenile
snailets are shown in Table 1. The result indicates that
the mean weight gained by each of snailets where
significantly different (
p
>0.05) for each treatment.
Moreover, there was significant difference between
the means weight gained. Snailets fed with T
C
had the
highest weight gain (16.01±1.92 g), followed by T
B
(14.45±1.20 g), while snailets fed with T
A
had the
least weight gain (12.55±0.90). The above mean
weight obtained for the feed treatments are higher
than those obtained by Ukpong et al. (2013), implying
that the present feed gives a better growth rate in
terms of weight gained than those used by Ukpong et
al. (2013) whose feed treatments indicated a mean
weight gain of between 5.86 g and 8.58 g. Also, a
correlation of the weight gained and age showed all
the three treatments had positive correlation. T
C
had
the highest correlation coefficient of 0.946 7 and T
A
had the least coefficient of 0.654 2 (Figure 1). The
Table 1 Mean growth rate of juvenile snails
Variable
T
A
T
B
T
C
P
value
Mean weight gained (g)
12.55±0.90c
14.45±1.20b
16.01±1.92a
> 0.05
Mean shell length (mm)
4.24±0.40
4.29±0.30
4.48±0.13
< 0.05
Mean shell width (mm)
6.50±0.60
6.52±0.95
6.92±0.30
< 0.05
Mean mouth aperture (mm)
4.35±0.30c
4.58±0.28b
4.90±0.19a
> 0.05
> = significant at 0.05 probability level, < 0.05 = not significant at 0.05 probability level, mean values with different letters means
there is significant difference between them
