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 |
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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