EFFECT OF SEVIN ON THE GLYCOGEN CONTENT OF FRESH WATER SNAIL, THIARA LINEATA

Aquatic contamination by pesticides, arising as a result of their extensive use in agriculture and public health program. Carbamates are now a day increasingly used due to their biodegradable nature and less persistence in the environment. However, indiscriminate use of these pesticides for crop protection causes much damage to the aquatic fauna. The carbamate, Sevin, caused severe alterations in biological steps of aquatic snail, Thiara lineata. The snail is economically important which serves as an intermediate host of various trematod parasites, which causes severe diseases to human being as well as domestic animals. The gastropod mollusc, T. lineata is a filter feeder at secondary level of fresh water ecosystem. Hence, it felt necessary to study alteration in the levels of glycogen. The acclimatized, healthy, active and same sized mature adult animals were considered for an experiment. The three groups of ten snails each were exposed to sub-lethal concentration (0.913 ppm) of Sevin for 1,7 and 14 days, simultaneously controls were run. The first group was sacrificed and different parts of the body, viz., gonad, hepatopancreas and foot were separated. From second group, reproductive tract and visceral organs (rest of the body) and from third group whole body was separated and total glycogen was estimated. The results were statistically analyzed and were found to be significant.