Effects of Feeding Different Protein Diets in Growth Performance and Carcass Quality of Snails (Archachatina marginata)

The study examined the effects of feeding different protein diets on growth performance and carcass quality of Snail, Archachatina marginata at the snail unit, Department of Animal Science, Faculty of Agriculture and Natural Resources Management Enugu State University of Science and Technology. Sixty clinically healthy snails were allotted to four treatment diets designated as T1 the control, contained all the ingredients, T2 contained only soybean meal, T3 only groundnut cake and T4 only fishmeal as the main protein source. Each treatment was replicated thrice in a Completely Randomized Design. Data were collected on weight gain feed intake using digital electronic weighing scale (Atonic electronic scale), shell length and shell width were measured using venire calliper while carcass characteristics were done using an Atomic electronic scale. Data collected were subjected to one-way analysis of variance using SPSS version 20 (2012). Findings revealed … statistical differences (P<0.05) were found in weight gain, shell characteristics as well as carcass characteristics. The result also showed that protein rich in calcium sources are ideal for snail production as the edible portion, visceral weight and shell weight showed statistical differences (P<0.05) from T3 (85 g, 55.38 g, 41g) to T4 (80.6 g, 45.32 g, 44 g) then T2 (75 g, 42.08 g, 37 g) and T1 (71 g, 40.37 g, 34 g) in that order.