TY  - JOUR
T1  - Feeding Responses in Snailets of African Giant Land Snails (<I>Archachatina marginata</I>) to Different Food Items in the Sub-Saharrah Tropical Region, Nigeria
AU - , G.A. Lameed 
JO  - Journal of Animal and Veterinary Advances
VL  - 5
IS  - 9
SP  - 753
EP  - 757
PY  - 2006
DA  - 2001/08/19
SN  - 1680-5593
DO  - javaa.2006.753.757
UR  - https://makhillpublications.co/view-article.php?doi=javaa.2006.753.757
KW  - Snailets
KW  -Archachatina marginata
KW  -crude-protein
KW  -weight gain
KW  -mortality
KW  -responses
AB  - The study of feeding responses of snailets of African giant snail (<I>Archachatina marginata</I>) fed with different  food  items:  Ugwu   leave   (<I>Talfairia  </I> sp.),   Pawpaw   fruit   (<I>Carica   papaya</I>),   banana   fruits  (<I>Musa sapientum</I>) and three levels of compounded feed with crude protein: 16.25, 15.88, 15.60% was carried out in the University Mission Research (UMR) snailery unit. Six treatments (T1-T6) were established with fifty snailets each and fed with different food items under the same environmental condition. Observations were made on feed utilization (intake), growth rates and mortality rates that were recorded bi weekly, which covered a  period  of  six  months.  Results  showed  that  the  snailets in all the treatments utilized the feed types significantly (p&lt;0.05); while the feed intake with respect to growth pattern (weight gain) in treatments 1-6 had no significant difference (p&gt;0.05). Snailets fed with compounded feed (T: 6) with mean intake and mean growth rates: 12.57 and 2.96 g, respectively had the best performance. Highest mortality rate (46%) was recorded in treatment 3 fed with banana and the least rate was generally obtained from compounded feed in treatment 4 with 16% mortality. It can be concluded that snailets in treatment 6 (compounded feed) with higher crude protein percentage (15.60%) had the highest total weight gain and mean total feed intake of 1480 and 12.57 g, respectively, when compared with other treatments.
ER  -