Published in Scientific Papers. Series D. Animal Science, Vol. LXII, Issue 2
Written by John ABIONA, Fatimah DUROSINMI, Yemisi AYO-AJASA, Muhammed ONAGBESAN
The effect of shell injury on growth and haemocyte concentration were evaluated in this study. Thirty-two (32) snails between 130-180g were randomly divided into four (4) treatments with eight (8) replicate each. The four treatments include: T1 (control), T2, (1 cm shell damage) T3 (2 cm shell damage) and T4 (3 cm shell damage). Haemolymph was collected on weekly basis for four weeks. Parameters monitored were total haemocyte count and shell growth. Result showed that shell injury/damage had significant effect (P<0.001) on total haemocyte count and shell growth. It can be concluded from this study that shell injury had influence on immune response of the animal, although compensatory growth was recorded after week four of the experiment. It can be recommended from this study that irrespective of level of shell damage used in this study, adequate attention should be given not to kill the animal as the process compromise the total haemocyte count which is responsible for immune defense of the animal. It is therefore recommended that adequate care and proper hygiene must be maintained in other not allow opportunistic infection since immune cells (haemocytes) are compromised in other not cause economic loss due to unforeseen mortality.
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