CHAPTER THREE
MATERIALS AND METHODS
3.1 EXPERIMENTAL SITE
This experiment was conducted at the
micro livestock unit of Teaching and
Research Farm, Department of Animal Science, Ebonyi State University,
CAS Campus, Abakaliki.
3.2 EXPERIMENTAL ANIMAL AND SOURCE
120 young growing snails of about
8-10weeks of age were sourced from Farm Associates at Nsukka Enugu State.
3.3 CARE AND MANAGEMENT OF THE EXPERIMENTAL
ANIMALS (SNAILS)
The young growing snails
purchased were housed intensively in the snailery unit of Teaching and Research
Farm of the Department of Animal Science. These snails were put in cages built
in 5-chambered wooden box of dimension 30cm x 25cm. The animal (snails) were
fed ad labitum and supplied with drinking water throughout the
experiment.
3.4 EXPERIMENTAL DIET PREPARATION
The leaves of mulberry and
chromoleana were procured at forestry research institute of Nigeria (FRIN),
Ibadan and Abakaliki, respectively. The leaves were sun-dried for about 5 days,
squeezed and sieved into powdered form before incorporating into the test
diets. Three experimental diets were formulated such that T1 (control) had 0%
mulberry leaves and 0% chromoleana leaves, T2 (5% mulberry leaf meal) had no
Siam weed leaves while T3 (5% siam weed leaf meal) had no mulberry leaf meal.
3.5 EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE
One hundred and twenty (120) young
growing snails were randomly assigned to three experimental diets and
replicated into five. The snails were fed as required throughout the experiment
and served with drinking water.
Table
4: The Experimental Layout
|
Treatment
Replication
|
T1
|
T2
|
T3
|
|
R1
|
T1
R1
|
T2
R1
|
T3
R1
|
|
R2
|
T1
R2
|
T2
R2
|
T3
R2
|
|
R3
|
T1
R3
|
T2
R3
|
T3
R3
|
|
R4
|
T1
R4
|
T2
R4
|
T3
R4
|
|
R5
|
T1
R5
|
T2
R5
|
T3
R5
|
Table
5: The Percentage Composition of The Experimental diet
|
Diets
|
T1
|
T2
|
T3
|
|
Maize
offal
|
50.00
|
50.00
|
50.00
|
|
Fish
meal
|
2.00
|
2.00
|
2.00
|
|
Soya
bean meal
|
20.00
|
15.00
|
15.00
|
|
Wheat
offal
|
10.00
|
12.00
|
12.00
|
|
Groundnut
cake
|
5.00
|
5.00
|
5.00
|
|
Bone
meal
|
2.00
|
2.00
|
2.00
|
|
Limestone
|
1.00
|
1.00
|
1.00
|
|
Palm
kernel cake
|
10.00
|
8.00
|
8.00
|
|
Mulberry
leaves
|
0.00
|
5.00
|
0.00
|
|
Chromoleana
leaves
|
0.00
|
0.00
|
5.00
|
|
Total
|
100
|
100
|
100
|
Table
6: Calculated Chemical Composition (%) values
|
|
T1
|
T2
|
T3
|
|
Crude
protein (%)
|
20.30
|
20.80
|
22.59
|
|
Crude
fibre (%)
|
4.60
|
3.57
|
4.69
|
|
Metabolizable
Energy
|
2849.46
|
2849.46
|
2849.46
|
3.7 DATA COLLECTION
Data were collected on the following
growth parameters.
1.
Total
feed intake: Total feed intake was collected by summing all the
daily intake for the period of the
experiment.
2.
Average
daily feed intake: The feed offered to the snails daily were
weighed and recorded and the leftover
(refused feed) was also weighed and recorded.
Mathematically
Feed
offered - refused feed = daily feed intake.
3.
Average
weekly feed intake: Average weekly feed intake was collected by
dividing the total feed intake with number
of weeks the experiment lasted.
Mathematically, Total feed intake ∑ Total feed intake
8weeks
4.
Initial
body weight: The initial body weight were
taken at the commencement of the experiment using Ohns electric digital scale
of 0.1-300g which took the measurement to the nearest milligram.
5.
Average
weekly weight gain: The snails are usually weighed every week to know the body
weight gain.
6.
Average
daily Weight gain: Daily weight gained was obtained by dividing the average
weekly weight gain by the number of days
in a week i.e
Average
Weekly Weight gain
7 days.
7.
Final
body weight: The snails were weighed at the end of the experiment to obtain the
final body weight.
8.
Feed
conversion ratio (FCR): The feed conversion ration of the snails was obtained
by dividing the average feed in take by the average weight gain.
FCR
= Average feed
intake
Average weight gain
3.8 STATISTICAL ANALYSIS
Data collected were subjected to
statistical analysis using analysis of variance (ANOVA) in completely
randomized design (CRD) Significant treatment means were separated using Duncan’s
new multiple range test (Obi, 2002).
3.9 EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN
The
experimental design used was completely randomized design (CRD) according to
Steel and Torre (1980). The liner additive model for the CRD used is
Xij
= µ + Τi + Eij
Where
Xij = The jth observation (feed
intake, body weight gain) of the experimental animals
µ=
overall estimate of the population mean
Eji
= Randomized error associated with the experiment in each parameter.
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