Comparative Cost Effectiveness of Growth and Reproductive Performance of the Archatina archatina Fed Compounded Feed and Natural Feed Materials

Abstract

This study evaluated the response of the giant African land Archatina archatina snails to three different diets, with regards feed intake, feed conversion, shell length and weight gain. A comparative cost analysis of growing snails with the different diets was also carried out. 180 snails were divided into three treatments and replicated thrice with 20 snails per replicate. Treatment I consisted of natural feed items only, Treatment II of compounded feed, while Treatment III was a mix of natural and compounded feeds. Each replicate was given 100 g of feed every two days and water was given ad libitum. Feed leftovers and shell length were regularly measured and analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Results showed that Treatment III snails had significantly (P=0.00) higher levels of feed intake than the replicates of Treatment I and Treatment II while no statistically significant difference in weight gain (P=0.37), feed conversion (P=0.11) and shell length (P=0.17) were observed for the three different treatments. Though more expensive at commencement for poor farmers, Treatment III was found to have the best potentials for sustainability of snail farming.