Growth biometrics and DNA yield of Bulinus snail from River Wudil, Nigeria.

The measurement and analysis of snail biometrics help to identify and differentiate species, study their growth, and understand their ecological relationships. The growth pattern, DNA yield and purity of Bulinus. globosus from River Wudil, Kano State, were investigated using standard methods. The mean ranges in mm and g from 7.9±2.9, 5.7±2.5, 4.8±1.8, 3.4±1.2, 1.5±0.2, 1.6±0.0, 2.4±0.2, 1.2±0.1, 1.4±0.1, 65.8±1.9 and 22.2±0.4 were recorded for length, width, aperture height, aperture width, height width ratio, height and aperture height ratio, height and aperture width ratio, width and aperture height ratio, aperture height and aperture width ratio, shell weight and flesh weight respectively. About 33.7 % of weight of the snail is made up of flesh by weight. The regression coefficient "b" showed that B. globosus exhibited a negative allometric growth pattern while the correlation coefficient (r) in all the shell parameters were below 1, indicating a weak correlation between the parameters. Mean DNA yield and purity were 120.03 ± 5.10 ng/µl and 1.81 ± 1.21. It is concluded that the freshwater snail, B. globusus from River Wudil exhibits negative allometric growth pattern and its DNA yield is well above the minimum standard (A260/A280 ratio of 1.7-2.0) while the pure extracts are good enough for further molecular study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]