Phenotypic Characterization, Liveweight-Age Determination and Body Indices of Three Snails (Achatina Fulica, Achatina Achatina and Archachatina Marginata)

A study was conducted at the Snailery Unit, Department of Animal Science, and University of Ibadan to compare growth performance of three different breeds of ecotype snail. The snails were divided into 3 treatments based on the genotype as follows: Achatina fulica, Achatina achatina and Archachatina marginata. Each treatment was housed in a tier compartmentalized into cells and snails stocked in 2 per cell. All were fed with mixed ration of paw leaves and snail mash throughout the experiment. The experiment lasted four months during which data were collected weekly on live- weight of the hatchlings. At 8th weeks of age, the hatchlings were de-shelled to investigate the proportions of shell, non edible and edible parts. The data were subjected to regression model to predict the live- weight of the snails and analysis of variance to determine the effect of age and genotype on live weight. The mean live- weights of 4.98g, 4.73g and 2.33g were recorded for Achatina achatina, Archachatina marginata and Achatina fulica respectively. Live- weight was significantly (p < 0.01) different with age and breed. The regression model showed that liveweight of the snails could be predicted using age, shell ratio and non edible ratio for the three breeds, while edible ratio could be used for A. fulicia and A. marginata liveweight. Comparison parts ratios of the snails shows a significant (p < 0.01) difference between genotypes. A. marginata had the highest edible portion of 0.43 compared with the other two breeds.