Comparison of growth and heterosis of body parameters of two varieties of snail [Archachatina marginata (Swainson1821)] and their crosses reared under tropical conditions

The main objective of this paper was to compare growth traits and heterosis of body parameters of two varieties of Archachatina marginata (var. ovum and var. saturalis) and their crosses under experimental conditions. Three hundred (300) juvenile snails (Archachatina marginata), one hundred (100) each of A. marginata var. ovum, A. marginata var. saturalis and their crosses with mean body weights of 12.40 ± 0.58 g were used for the study. The snails were randomly allotted using completely randomized design into three (3) treatment varieties. Results from the study showed significant variety effect (P<0.05) on final body weight and average weight gain. The crossbred variety recorded the highest average weight gain compared to the other two varieties. No significant (P>0.05) variety effect was observed on daily weight gain, total feed intake, daily feed intake and feed conversion ratio. The crossbred variety recorded the highest final body weight and final shell width, indicating heterotic effects on these two bodies and shell parameters. Significant variety effects (P<0.05) were observed on body weight, shell length and shell “mouth” length. The low heterotic values obtained for body weight and the shell parameters supported the assertion that growth traits have low heterotic values which may be due to their high heritability. Though, low and positive heterotic values were obtained for all parameters studied, the crossbred variety recorded the highest heterotic values, which indicated that it may have heterotic advantage over the purebred varieties.