Comparison Of Proximate Composition And Mineral Elements Of Archachatina Marginata And Achatina Achatina Meat Fed Natural Feed And Supplemented Diets

Abstract

Two different breeds of snail, Archachatina Marginata (AM), Achatina Achatina (AA), were analyzed for proximate composition and mineral profile of the snail flesh. Proximate analysis of the snail flesh revealed that moisture was highest in Archachatina achatina (84.44%) and least in Archachatina marginata (73.14%). The result revealed that snail meat (Archachatina marginata and Achatina achatina) were found to contain; 12.85% and 15.63% of Protein, 7.41% and 4.08% of Ash content, 2.57% and 2.20% of fat content, 73.14% and 84.4% of Moisture content, 0.25% and 0.14% of Crude fibre content respectively. The result of the mineral content of the snail (Archachatina marginata and Achatina achatina) was found to be 316.67mg/100g of calcium, 24.00mg/100g and 12mg/100g of magnesium, 166mg/100g and 176.33mg/100g of phosphorus, 0.6167mg/100g and 0.5767mg/100g of Copper, 0.35mg/100g and 0.3067mg/100g of iron and 1.24mg/100g and 1.19mg/100g of Zinc respectively. The results of this study revealed that, the meat of Achatina achatina has the highest source of protein and moisture content but low in crude fibre and fat contents. Keywords; Snail meats, Minerals, Feed, Proximate, diets, Archachatina marginata, Achatina achatina.