Abstract:
The study was designed to determine the effect of feeding varying levels of dried rumen digesta on the growth of African land giant snail (Archachatina marginata). Most snail feeds are seasonal and very expensive but rumen digesta is the waste product collected from the abattoir on daily basis at no cost. Three research questions and three null hypotheses guided the study. The study adopted an experimental research with completely randomized design. The growth rate was measured using sensitive digital weighing balance while Vennier Caliper was used to measure length and width. The feed intake was measured by a weigh-back technique. Proximate analysis of the feed was determined using Association of Official Analytical Chemists (1995) procedure. One way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) and Duncan’s Multiple Range Test (DMRT) were used to analyze and test the null hypotheses. The findings depicted that treatment two (T2) with 10% rumen digesta inclusion showed the highest weight gain and the increase in length and width was slightly higher than the snails in other treatments comparatively. Besides, the snails in treatment two indicated the highest feed consumption rate. The study inferred that rumen digesta could be fed to snails at 10% level of inclusion thus providing a cheaper source of feeding snails and help in utilizing the abattoir wastes to reduce associated environmental health hazard. It is recommended that extension agents should embark upon mass sensitization of snail rearing and how to compound snail feed using rumen digesta to reduce cost. Besides, rural and urban dwellers should be educated through government sponsored seminars and workshops on the nutritive value of snails and how to rear snails throughout the year using rumen digesta. Researchers on snail farming should be motivated and assisted through funds to publish their works for wider publicity on snail feeding and rearing which is still very new in the country.
