Growth comparison of <i>Achatina achatina</i> and <i>Archachatina marginata</i> fed natural food and supplemented diet

Abstract

A study was conducted on the growth Comparison of two edible snail species (Archachatina marginata and Achatina achatina) fed Natural feed and supplemented diet. A total of Ninety (90) snails were used (45 of each species), and were allotted to three treatment groups (T1, T2, and T3), replicated three times with 5 snails per replicate in a completely randomized design. The snails on T1, T2 and T3 were fed with cocoyam and pawpaw leaves + 25% crude protein supplemented diet, cocoyam and pawpaw leaves only and 25% crude protein supplemented diet only respectively. The feeding trial lasted 10 weeks. The growth performance of both Archachatina marginata and Achatina achatina was assessed on the basis of weight gain, shell length, shell width and cost analysis. Treatment 1 produced the highest yield in all the growth parameters for both Archachatina margianta and Achatina achatina and the means of the weight gain were statistically significant (P< 0.05) for both snails. There was no significant difference (P>0.5) in the shell length and shell width for both snails. The least snail mortality for both snail species was observed in treatment 1 and Treatment 2. Comparatively, the growth performance in the diet treatment group showed that combination of Natural feed and supplemented diet is better than the other treatment.

Keywords: Growth, Comparison, Snail, Diet, Treatment