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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