International Journal of Mol. Ecol. and Conserv 2015, Vol.5, No.6, 1-4
3
Figure 1 Correlation of weight gained against age
above results indicate the weight gained and shell
growth rate were significantly higher for snailets
treatment C and lower for treatment A. This could be
attributed to the level of nutrients in the feed diets
(Nyameasem and Borketey-La, 2014). The higher
performance of snailets fed with T
C
implies the diet
contained the essential nutrient and energy levels and
met the snailets optimum requirement for growth
(Radrizzani, 1992; Bright, 1996). Nyameasem and
Borketey-La (2014) and Ani et al. (2013) observed
that decrease in dietary protein below 18% resulted in
reduced performance in snails. However, Sang-Min
and Tae- Jun (2005), Omole et al. (2000) and Hodasi
(1979) reported that a diet containing between 22% to
28% and 2 200 Kcal/kgME - 3.3 Mcal/kgME was
optimal for snail growth. The energy content of the
compounded diets in the present study could be said
to compare favorably with above values.
Shell growth rate of the sample snailetss
Table 1 also indicates the growth response of the
snailets to the varying feed treatment. The mean shell
length varied between 4.24±0.40cm in T
A
, treatment
B (4.29±0.30) to 4.48±0.13 cm in treatment C,
although they were not significantly different from
each other (
p
>0.05). The same trend was followed by
the mean shell width as it from 6.50±0.60cm in T
A
to
6.52±0.95 cm in T
B
and 6.92±0.30 cm in T
C
(
p
<0.05).
There was significant difference between the feed
treatments with regards to mean mouth aperture
growth (
p
>0.05). Snailets feed with T
C
had the highest
mean mouth aperture (4.90±0.19) against 4.58±0.28
observed in T
B
and T
A
gave the least mouth aperture
growth of 4.35±0.30.
The higher shell length, width and aperture increments
observed among snailets fed with T
C
over T
B
and T
A
(Table 2, 3 and 4) could also be attributed to the
growth performance of the diet which had a high
correlation between weight gained (-0.7212), shell
width (0.965 6) and mouth aperture (0.958 0). A
positive correlation between weight gained, shell
length, and shell width has been established growing
snails (Odunaiya and Akinnusi, 2008; Ani et al., 2013).
The fortnightly range of increment of shell length and
width (4.24 to 4.48 and 6.50 to 6.92 mm, respectively)
obtained in the present study compares favorably with
the values (17.0 to 19.8 and 11.9 to 13.2 mm) reported
by Nyameasem and Borketey-La (2014) and above
the values (8.77 to 11.4 and 3.67 to 6.60 mm) reported
by Omole et al
.
(2004) for growing snails. Also, the
shell mouth aperture for T
C
had a correlation with
weight gained (-838 1), shell length (0.958 9) and
shell width (0.980 8) in Table 4 than T
A
(Table 2) and
T
B
(Table 3). The mouth aperture values compared
favorably with the values (4.69±0.11 - 5.07±0.19 cm)
obtained by Aluko et al. (2014). The variant in values
of measured parameters between the authors and the
present study could be attributed to factors such as
differences in age of snail, species, management as
well as environment.
Conclusion
The growth rate of juvenile snails can be enhanced by
the combination of fruits and vegetables, in the
absence of corn and soybeans residues as feed ingredient.
This will have no adverse effect on the snail growth
rate as the combination of fruits and vegetables still
contain an appreciable amount of vital ingredients
needed by the snailets for growth.
Table 2 Correlation matrix for T
A
Weight
Shell
length
Shell
width
Shell
aperture
Weight
1.000 0
Shell length
0.98504
1.0000
Shell width
0.5899
0.6170
1.0000
Shell aperture -0.6212
-0.6056
-0.8662
1.0000
