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Journal of Biological Sciences

Year: 2015 | Volume: 15 | Issue: 2 | Page No.: 98-101
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Authors

O.M. Etukudo

O. BIna-ibor

E.E. Ekerette

Keywords

Research Article

Comparative Study of Egg Quality Traits of Black-Skinned and White-Skinned Ectotypes of Snails (Archachatina marginata) Based on Four Whorls in Calabar, Nigeria

O.M. Etukudo, O. BIna-ibor and E.E. Ekerette
The comparative study of egg quality traits of black-skinned and white-skinned ectotypes of snails (Archachatina marginata) based on four whorls were studied using sixty adult snails. The snails were managed in captivity for three months using hutches, embedded with steriled, loamy soil to generate eggs for the study. Egg quality traits evaluated include number of eggs laid, egg weight, length and width. The snails were divided into two mating groups, black-skinned x black-skinned and white-skinned x white-skinned ectotypes of snails. Data collected were subjected to t-test. Results showed that the black-skinned ectotype laid 112 eggs from 13 clutches, while the white-skinned ectotype laid 98 eggs from 11 clutches. The results of the egg quality traits analyzed showed high significant differences (p<0.05) between the two ectotypes of snails based on four whorls. The results of the phenotypic correlation of the egg quality traits also revealed a highly significant (p<0.001) mean number of egg, mean egg weight, length and width between the two ectotypes of snails. The highly and positive correlation between the egg quality traits could suggest that there are direct relationships between the traits and selection for one trait leads to improvement of the other trait. It is recommended that snails with 5, 6 and 7 whorls should be used for analysis of egg quality traits since the number of whorls are yet to be used as a standard for estimating the age of snails.
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