The host plant preferences of Golden Apple Snail, Pomacea canaliculata (Lamarck)

The golden apple snail or Pomacea canaliculata is a well known pest species to the paddy plant. It has decreases the yield of rice in Malaysia for the past 20 years. This snail has a high reproductive rate in tropical regions and could withstand harsh conditions by burying themselves in the soil for about 6 months. Other than consuming paddy, it is also known that the golden apple snails prefer to feed on weeds nearby the paddy field. The aims of this study are to determine which host plant is preferred by the golden apple snail, Pomacea canaliculata as their food source and to determine the daily consumption rate of the adult Pornacea canaliculata. Multi-choice test were used to determine the host plant preferences of P. canaliculata. The adult snails were first acclimatized at 31±1 °C nearby Farm Unit, UiTM Kota Kinabalu, Sabah. Three different host plants were selected in this study namely paddy plant, Bermuda grass and water spinach. The host plants were prepared by blotting them with different techniques and their fresh weight were measured before and after the experiment. Then, each host plants were placed in a big container with adult snails. The experiment was replicated three times. The result shows the most consumed wet weight of host plant was water spinach with an average of 6.26 g followed by paddy plant (5.61 g). The least consumed wet weight of host plant was the Bermuda grass with an average of 0.68 g. While, the daily consumption rate of adult golden apple snail were known to be 0.03218 gig snail. This information is vital for early management of golden apple snail.