NIGERIAN JOURNAL OF SCIENCE AND ENVIRONMENT
Journal of the Faculties of Science and Agriculture, Delta State University, Abraka, Nigeria
ISSN: 1119-9008
DOI: 10.5987/UJ-NJSE
Email: njse@universityjournals.org
EGG AND HATCHLING CHARACTERISTICS OF TWO SPECIES OF GIANT AFRICAN LAND SNAIL, Archachatina marginata (Swainson) AND Achatina achatina (Linn)
DOI: 10.5987/UJ-NJSE.16.064.1 | Article Number: C3DEAF15 | Vol.14 (1) - July 2016
Author: Okonta B. O
Keywords: Archachatina, Achatina, hatchlings, cabbages, water melon
The rapid destruction of the natural habitat of snails means that to address the protein deficiency in our diets, the captive rearing of snails must be emphasized. Two species of snails, Archachatina marginata and Achatina achatina were thus compared for both eggs and hatchability characteristics. The objectives of this work were to discover the species with better eggs and hatchling characteristics. The experiment was carried out at the Forestry and Wildlife Research Farm, Delta State University, Asaba Campus. 27 breeder snails each of A. marginata and A. achatina species with average weight of 300 and 280 g respectively were purchased from the University of Ibadan Research Farm in Oyo State and were taken care of intensively. The breeder snails used for the experiment were distributed randomly in baskets filled with loamy soil to the depth of 10-15 cm; they were fed with different diets- pawpaw leaf, water leaf, cabbages and water melon, for 12 weeks. The parameters measured were weight, length and width of eggs, weight of hatchling, length of hatchling and aperture length of hatchling. The results of the experiment showed that there were significant differences (p<0.05) between the species-A. marginata and A. achatina in parameters such as weight of eggs, width of eggs, weight of hatchlings, length of hatchlings and the aperture length of hatchlings. In all the parameters measured A. marginata did better than A. achatina (except in incubation period) and is therefore recommended to farmers.
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