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 in the Department of Animal Science. These snails were put in cage 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 powdering form before incorporating into the test
diets. Three experimental diets was formulated such that T1 (control) had 0% mulberry
leaves and 0% chromoleana leaves. T2 (5% MBL) had no Sian weed leaves. While T3
(5% SWL) had no MBL.
3.5 EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE
One hundred and twenty (120) young
growing snails were randomly assigned to the experimental diets in the number
of eight (8) snails per replicate. The snails were fed ad libitum 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 performance 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 is 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 collect
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 was 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.
RESULT
4.1 Growth performance
The result for the growth
performance characteristics of snails fed diets supplemented with Mulberry leaf
meal (MBLM) and chromoleana odorata
(siam weed) leaf meal (SWLM)
is presented in Table 4 below.
Table
7: Growth performance characteristics of
snails fed diets supplemented with mulberry leaf meal (MBLM) and siam weed leaf
meal (SWLM)
|
Parameters (g)
|
T1 (0%)
|
T2 (5% MBLM)
|
T3 (5% SWLM)
|
SEM
|
|
Initial body weight
|
45.97
|
46.01
|
45.78
|
0.07
|
|
Final
bodyweight
|
160.10b
|
160.52b
|
166.38a
|
2.03
|
|
Body weight gain
|
114.14b
|
114.52b
|
120.60a
|
2.09
|
|
Weekly weight gain
|
14.27b
|
14.32b
|
15,08a
|
0.26
|
|
Daily weight gain
|
2.04a
|
2.05a
|
1.95b
|
0.03
|
|
Total
feed intake
|
252.88b
|
254.93ab
|
257.98a
|
1.48
|
|
Weekly feed intake
|
31.62b
|
31.37b
|
32.25a
|
0.26
|
|
Daily feed intake
|
4.52ab
|
4.45a
|
4.61a
|
0.05
|
|
Feed conversion ration
|
2.22a
|
2.23a
|
2.14b
|
0.03
|
a, b, c: Means with the same
superscript in the same row are significantly different (P <0.05).
·
MBLM
– Mulberry leaf meal
·
SWLM
– Saim weed leaf meal
·
SEM
– Standard error of the treatment mean
DISCUSSION
The result presented in table 4 above showed
significant (P<0.05 )
difference in all the parameters
except in the initial body weight.
Information on the growth rate of this species
(Archachatina maginata) is scarce in literature, especially with the use of
diets supplemented with Mullbery and Siam weed leaf meals.
This
result differs completely from that of Imran et al., (2011) who reported no significant difference between Mulberry
leaf meal (MBLM) and siam weed leaf
meal (SWLM) when fed to growing snails.
The values for the body weight gain T1 (114.14), T2 (114.52) and T3
(120.60) actually favoured T3 (SWLM) followed by T2 (MBLM) although disagrees with
the earlier report of Omole, (2000) who reported daily weight gain of 0.49. The
body weight gain of the animals is similar to that reported by Ejidike, (2000).
This inconsistency in body weight gain could be attributed to hydration stage,
stuntiness and shell heaviness as reported by Stievenart (1992). High
voluntary intake of diet T3 (5% SWLM) by the snail could be attributed to the
palatability of the foliage to all species of animals as reported by Samkol,
(2003). The level of feed intake
recorded in snails feed diet T3 (5% SWLM) is similar to that reported by Imaran
et al., (2001).
High
level of feed conversion was
recorded in snails fed T2 diet (5% MBLM) and this could be as a result of
excellent nutritional value and
in-vitro organic matter digestibility
of Mulberry leaf
meal as reported by
Omar et al., (1999). This can also be attributed to high crude protein
content of 22.5% and palatability of Mulberry leaf meal (Okon and Amalu, 2003).
The
optimal performance of the snails used
in this study could be attributed
to higher response to light which
agrees with (Akinnusi, 2002) who
reported that a continuous exposure of snails to light
increases their rate of feed consumption.
Conclusion
and Recommendation
Since the two leaf meals used in this
experiment performed better than the control diet, it can therefore be
concluded that mulberry and saim-weed leaf meals are very rich nutritionally to
act as a good substitutes for replacing soybean meal in the diet of young
snails. And also, the high nutrient value of these leaf meals and their
palatability make them acceptable to all species of animals.
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