There are three (3) sub sections in
the integrated system of aquaculture in ARAC.
1. Snailary section
2. Arable section
3. Piggery section (here we have fathering
breeding)
Snilary section
Snail farming is also known as
Heliculture.this is the process of farming or raising snails for commercial
purpose or for food.
There are different breeds of snails.
1. Helix pomatia
2. Helix aspersa
3. Achatina achatina
4. Achatina marginata
Snails vary in size, colour,
adaptability and performance. They are invertebrate, which they lack backbone.
The belongs to large highly diverse group of invertebrates know as phylum mollusca.
They are multicellular and are heterotrophs (they feed on organic materials
present in other organism living or dead) the soft body is protected by a hard
shell, which the snail retreats into when alarmed. They are found worldwide in
sea in fresh water and in moist areas on land.
Locomotion
Snail
move by crawling, swimming or floating with current, land snails crawl on the
ground. Creeping along on their large flat foot, a special gland in the foot
secretes mucus (slimy fluid that helps the snail move)
Predators of Snail
Many
animals eat snail, including birds, fish, frogs, snakes, turtles, beetles and
people.
Sources of snail to your farm
Snails
can be sourced from different places
1. By gathering wild snails directly from
the bush.
2. By purchasing from snail farmers
How to select a healthy snails for
rearing
1. Select
a fully grown sexually matured medium sized snail which can produce egg.
2. Chosen snails of the same species.
3. Select live and active snails
4. Avoid snails with broken shells and
those whose shells have been drilled for passing in ropes for carrying or
hanging at road side for sale. The type of snail we have in ARAC is Achatina
achatina. Only those land snails which are acceptable for consumption in
your area should be farmed and there are referred to as “edible” land snails.
In southern part of Nigerian where snails are more common the two species
usually available for consumption and which are recommended for farming are Achatina achatina (tiger lands
snail)
Archchatina marginata
Housing
There house is built in hutches filled with sawdust
and covered with carved plank with net for ventilation and to avoid predator.
The sawdust is mixed with soil .soil the major part of snail’s habitat .soil composition,
water content and texture are important factors to consider in site selection.
The soil is sprinkle with water always in order to sustain the snail. A soil
with organic matter support good growth and development of snails.
TEMPERATURE AND HUMIDITY
Snails are cold-blooded animal. They
are sensitive to changes in their atmospheric humidity and temperature. The
coastal areas are extremely wet and humid with up to 2,000 mm of rain falling
in two rainy seasons (May and June and again in October) when humidity falls
below (75% in the care during dry season October and mid March) Achatina
becomes inactive seals itself to it shell with a white calcareous layer (Mucus)
in order not to loss water form the body.
Harvesting
There are two main snail-harvesting
season
1. in September and may/June. The
harvesting season coincide respectively with the major rainy season of
September/October. Snails are abundant during the major rainy season.
Breeding of tiger land snail (Achatina achatina)
The life cycle of the snail start
from Egg-----juvenile (baby snail) -------adult. The eggs will start to hatch
from 24 hours onwards in some species. But it is genus and dependent on the
species and soil temperature. Eggs do not necessarily hatch uniformly and it
noticeable in species that have a long gestation period (4 week) the first to
hatch can be 10 days or more in front of the main groups. When the egg hatches
the removal of the egg shell delays earth growth because new hatched snails
will often stay burrowed for up to 14days presumably while they process and
exist on the sustenance the shell and egg albumen provided. From this point on,
young snails behave almost exactly like the larger ones. They quickly grow .new
shell are appended to the shell lip and the shell grow spirally with the body.
The species breeds form April to
July which coincides with the major rainy season than in the minor rainy season
which occurs from September to November. The biggest factor in Achatina achatina
breeding is an increase in humidity. The snail have less than four month to
develop before the next dry seasons. They will refuse to eat normal food for at
least few days. Young snails live in the same way as adults and require the
same care.
Food and feeding
It feeds mainly on green leaves tuber, fruits and
flowers. Unlike other snails, it prefers leaves and fruits, which are detached
from the main plant and also wet leaves rather than dry leaves. In ARAC we feed
the snails with.
1. Unripe pawpaw fruit-cut in smaller size
2. Water leaf-we use to feed the baby
snail
3. Bone
meal – to supply calcium dried plantain leaves which is used to cover the
snails in order to create a natural enviroment and provide shelter
Feeding
Snails can feed at any time of the
day specially when they are offered their preferred feeds unripe paw-paw
fruits. They can once or twice daily depending on the rate of food consumption.
Remaining of the previous day’s feeds should first be removed before putting in
any new feed. Water should be sprinkled in the hutches from time to time.
Activities carried out in the unit.
I cleaned the snail pens by removing the used food
items and arrange the snails. After which I feed them with unripe paw-paw fruit
and covered them with dried planting leaves. After covering them. I sprinkled
water on the snail depending on the whether condition.
ARABLE SECTION
The
arable section comprises of banana, pineapple and pawpaw-orchard.
The pineapple orchard is made of
species know as Queen Pineapple. There are thongs just at the tips of the
leaves.
The
queen pineapple is divided into 2 namely
1. Ratune sucker
2. Crown sucker
Activities carried out
The
major work I did was that I participated in weeding of pineapple orchard.
PIGGERY SECTION
The
piggery section is made up of fattening and breeders fattening are young pigs
Breeders are adult pigs for reproduction.
TYPE OF SPECIES OF PIGS
The
species of pigs reared are;
1. Land durrock
2. Large white
We have both male (Boar) and female
(sow) pigs.
Housing
In ARAC the pig pen both breeding and
fattening are built with cement. Intensive system is used of which research was
to be profitable.
In the pig pen, we have a feeding
trough and drinking trough. The drinking trough is large in size than the
feeding trough for cooling of its body as well. Dumps of the pigs are swept out
and are used in fertilizing the banana and pineapple orchard.
Reproduction in pigs
The
gestation period of pig is quite short
114 day (3 months, 3 week and 3 day) the estrus (heat behaviours) of pig occur
for 2-3 day averring 60 hours in mature sows but is only about 48hours long in
gilt. Ovulation occurs during the last third of estrus. When a sow goes into
heat together and conceive together, they will furrow their piglet together in
groups which make all in flow possible.
Sign of the heat period in pigs
The valve lips are swollen and red with a thin, mucous
discharge; there is depression appetite, restlessness, alertness, pacing
grunting and chopping of the jaws. The most reliable sign of the heat behaviour
is “standing” while another sow or boar mounts many female will start for the
back pressure test.
Feeding of Pigs
Pigs
feed on vegetable matters and formulated feeds.
In African regional aquaculture
centre (ARAC) we feed the pigs with formulated feeds.
Ingredient kg
Palm
kernel cake (PKC) 50kg
Groundnut
cake (GNC) 10kg
Wheat
brain 50kg
Vit
perimx 500g
Bone
meal 75%
Soybean 10kg
The
ingredients are mixed with water before the feed is served.
Activities carried out in the unit
I
swept the is pen and I participated in feeding the pigs and cleaning of the
pens.
HATCHERY UNIT
Hatchery Unit is a place where fish fingerlings are produced
and rear through their early life stage of finfish.
Method of fish spawning
1. Induced spawning without hormone
(Natural breeding)
2. Hormone induced spawning
3. Artificial spawning [Artificial
breeding]
Induced spawning without hormone
(Natural breeding):
This is achieved in captive enclosure (pond or tank)
by creating environment conditions that is suitable for fish spawning. The breeder
has no or little contribution in its success rather nature takes care.
Hormone Induced spawning:
Here the male and female are injected. You induce the
fish and send them back to the water. You pay little attention on the activity
like 50-60% for it success.
Artificial spawning:
In the type of breeding the female fish is injected
with a hormone and the male is sacrificed in order to extract the milt. The
eggs and milt of spawner are extract and fertilized manually.
Steps to artificial breeding fish
selection
The selection is done very early in the morning.
During the selection you should take into consideration the sex, age, weight,
stress control and age deduction. You should void virgin fish rather use fish
that has been used before for clarias
gariefinus eight (8) months of age is good for breeding while for heterobranus if it is les than 2 years it won’t be
good.
The
weight of fish should be from 800g-2000kg.
Hormonal substances used in fish
breeding and their recommended doses.
1. Pituitary extract at 4 ml/kg
2. Ovaprim at 0.5ml/kg
3. Ovatide at 0.2ml/kg
Equipments
of artificial breeding
1. Towel
2. Syringe
3. Basin
4. Sharp knife
5. Hormone
6. Tissue pepper
7. Locally made physiological salt
solution (0.9 of common salt)
How to known egg that is good
A white colour of egg means that the
egg is still at developmental stage. If the egg is used like that hatchability
is not going to be successful.
A good egg for breeding is one which
is not gummy.
Hypophysation
This
is the ingestion of hormone to mature fish to achieve breeding.
There are two type of hormone that can be administered
to fish for breeding.
1. Natural
hormone: these are the fish pituitary that is extracted.
2. Synthetic
hormone; these are the artificial hormones that are purchased from the market
example ovaprim,ovatide and ovryprin. The injection of the hormone is below the
dorsal fin and above the lateral line at the angle 45o. After this
wait for the latency period for 7-8 hours.
Method of Stripping
The following are the method we used
in achieving stripping in ARAC.
1. We
catch the injected female carefully with a net from a water holding facility.
2. We
gently dry the body surface so as to avoid water contact to the egg.
3. The
female fish is held with two persons tightly with wet towel to avoid jumping.
4. We
strip the fish by gently pressing the abdomen with a thumb from the pectoral
fin toward the genital papilla to cause gradual release of the eggs into a
clean dried bowel. We stop stripping when blood is notice. After stripping the
spent fish is kept gently in a tank where a maximum care will be given to them
for the next breeding.
Fertilization
of stripped egg
After the egg have been stripped the milt are spread
on the eggs and mixed together. The fertilized eggs are ready for incubation.
The eggs are spread out on the floating incubation “Kakabban” (mesh size lmm)
within a few minutes, the fertilized egg absorb water and become sticky.
Hatching take place after 24 hours.
Larvae/Fry
Rearing
At this stage, the fry depend
entirely on its yoke sac for 3 days after hatching. After this days the fry is
fed with artemia for 2 weeks during feeding, the inflowing and out flowing
waters are both stopped to avoid feed wastage and enhance proper feeding. Also uneaten
feeds are first removed in the morning through siphoning method before feeding commences
proper. They are stocked in nursery pond to attain fingerling stage.
Activities carried out in the unit
1.I
participated in washing the pond and disinfecting the pond with Nacl (Common
salt) I appreciated in siphoning of dirt in the pond. I participated in sorting
and grading of fingerlings.