Haemolymph and mineral composition of East African land snail (Achatina fulica ) fed sundried mango seed kernel meal

Abstract

A hundred and twenty (120) growing Achatina fulica snail were used to assess the impact of sundried mango seed kernel meal (MSKM) on the haemolymph and mineral composition of Achatina fulica. The mango seed kernel meal used as test ingredient were collected, cracked and the kernel sundried for two weeks after which it was milled into a fine powder. Four dietary treatments were formulated to meet the nutrient requirements of snails. The mango seed kernel meal was included at 0%, 5%, 10%, and 15%, representing Diet 1, Diet 2, Diet 3 and Diet 4 respectively. Diet 1 served as the control. Snails of similar weights were randomly allocated to four dietary treatments and replicated three (3) times in a completely randomized design (CRD) experiment. Each dietary treatment consisted of thirty (30) snails per treatment with ten (10) snails per replicate. The snails were fed ad libitum. At the end of the 56 days feeding trial, four (4) snails sampled from each replicate were randomly selected for haemolymph and mineral analysis. Data collected on different parameters were analyzed using one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA). The results showed that there were significant differences (p<0.05) on the mineral and proximate composition of haemolymph among the treatments. The experimental diets significantly increased the sodium (3.54ppm to 5.64ppm), potassium(6.54ppm to 10.46ppm),magnesium (1.56ppmto 7.38ppm), calcium(14.79ppm to 19.18ppm) and phosphorus (4.86ppm to 7.44ppm) contents of the haemolymph. Also, mango seed kernel meal increased the crude fiber (0.10% - 1.02%), fat content (0.47% - 1.48%), crude protein (2.45% - 3.12%) and the carbohydrate contents (3.94% - 6.56%) of the haemolymph of Achatina fulica. The 15% mango seed kernel meal inclusion had relatively better results in terms of the crude fiber, fat content, crude protein and carbohydrate. The inclusion of varying levels of sundried mango seed kernel meal did not have detrimental effects on the mineral and proximate compositions of haemolymph of Achatina fulica snails. This study has shown that sundried mango seed kernel meal can be used to replace maize in the diets of Achatina fulica without affecting the haemolymph negatively. The use of mango seed kernel meal as feed ingredient for snails is recommended as an innovative strategy in ameliorating the health hazards of mango waste pollution in our environment.