Assessment of Growth Rate of Juvenile African Giant Land Snail, <i>Archachatina marginate</i>, Under Three Feeding Treatments

Abstract

This study assessed the growth rate of snailets of A. marginata under three feed treatment. Ninety snailets divided into thirty snailets per treatment were used for the study. Data collected include Shell Length, Shell Width, Aperture Length and Weight gained. The results indicate that Treatment C (T C ) had the highest value for all the growth parameters assessed, while Treatment A (T A ) had the least values. The mean Weight gained varied between 16.01±1.92g (T C ) and 12.55±0.90g (T A ) and was significantly different between the treatments (p<0.01), mean length and shell width varied between T A (4.24±0.40, 6.50±0.40) and T C (4.48±0.13, 6.92±0.30) and were not significantly different (p<0.05). The mean mouth aperture of A. marginata fed with T C (4.90±0.19) was greater than and significantly different form T A (4.35±0.30) and T B (4.58±0.28) at p<0.05. These findings indicate that local farmers who feed their snailets with only vegetable leaves and fruits obtained locally could obtain mature snails with good weight and shell growth even without combination with any other feed material.