ABSTRACT
Achatina achatina (land snails) are shelled gastropods considered relevant to humans as food items. The consumption of land snails by man is dateless, but consumption of snail meat transcends back in prehistoric times. Snails are invertebrate animals that belong to a group called Mollusc. They are reared as source of food, for their medicinal properties as well as for their aesthetic value. The process of rearing land snails for the extraction of slime to produce cosmetics, drugs or biomaterials and of course for the purpose of human consumption as well, is known as heliciculture (snail farming). Watermelon, (Citrullus lanatus), is a fleshy, juicy and pulpy fruit. This vine-like plant, is one of the most widely cultivated fruits in the world, and native to tropical Africa. The fruit is fleshy and juicy, with a pulpy pulp. Citrullus lanatus is a member of the family 'Gourd', (Cucurbitaceae). The Watermelon fruit contains vitamin A and some vitamin C. It is largely consumed as refreshing summer fruit, much appreciated by the consumers because of its refreshing capability, attractive color, delicate taste, and high water content to quench the summer thirst. Sixty (60) young African giant land snails (hatchlings) were gotten from a snail vendor at Uselu market in Benin City. The snails were randomly grouped into three groups, each group comprised of twenty (20) snails each and were introduced and allocated to three (3) nutritional treatments (mixture of pawpaw and bitter leaves, bitter leaves alone, and watermelon rinds). Watermelon (Citrullus lanatus) rinds, bitter leaves and pawpaw leaves were collected, washed, weighed and cut into smaller pieces before being fed the snails. The proximate analysis of watermelon rinds, mixture of bitter leaves and pawpaw leaves, the current study observed improved survival percentages of the watermelon fed snails and the capacity of better survival rate of snails fed with water. At this point of the study, it was concluded that, the phytochemical constituents of watermelon rinds is most responsible for the increased survival of the snails fed, as watermelon rinds should be advocated as poultry feed not only as snail feed compounds. This study has shown that the effects of growth performance in the utilization of watermelon rinds (Citrullus lanatus), (mixture of V. amygdalina, C. papaya and, V. amygdalina only) in the dietary regime of A. achatina are alike; therefore the fruit bark, and mixture of the vegetables can be applied in Nigeria and beyond in heliciculture. Growth rate and survival percentages were however better with watermelon rinds.
