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Effects of different feeding regimes on the growth performance of the giant African land snail Archachatina marginata (Swainson)


I.O. Ovat
P.E. Esor
O.I. Iwara

Abstract

Effects of various feeding regimes on the growth performance of the giant African land snail, Archachatina marginata were studied using one hundred and twenty (120 Juvenile snails) weighing 0.66g +1 per snails for a period of 90 days. The treatments were. T1 -Grower starter, T2 - Grower mash, T3 - cocoyam and cassava leaves and T4 - Ripe pawpaw fruits. The Completely Randomized Design was used with four treatments and each replicated three times. The snails were confined in wooden hutch boxes. Data was collected on weekly body weight feed intake, shell length and shell width. Results obtained showed that snails fed with broiler starter diet (T1) had significantly (P<0.05) higher performance in terms of weight gain, feed intake, shell length and the aperture, while pawpaw fruits T4 recorded the least values. The highest values for feed intake was observed in T1 (135.5g) followed by T2 (78.2g), while the least feed intake was observed in T4 (55.7g). Snails fed with T1 recorded the highest weight gain (60.1g) followed by T2 and T3.The lowest weight gain was obtained in T4 (37.9g). Shell length was highest in T1 (20.7mm), closely followed by T2 (19.2mm). The aperture recorded the highest mean values in T1 (20.1mm). The least operculum was recorded in T4 (12.9mm). Therefore, the broiler starter T1 should be used to feed growing snails to improve their performance.


Keywords: Snails, Broiler Starter, Grower mesh, Cocoyam leaves, Cassava leaves, Pawpaw fruits, hutch boxes


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eISSN: 1597-0906