Abstract
Development of new animal protein sources contributes to the fight against protein deficiencies in diets of populations in sub-Saharan Africa. This study was investigated to assess the impact of snail flesh (Limicolaria flammea) diet on biochemical and zootechnical parameters of young wistar rats. Thus, three diets (RTC, ESC and RPP) were made and submitted to these rats for 15 days. The biochemical analysis of snail flesh (Limicolaria flammea) powder having served as a protein source (46.65±0.05%) is also rich in ash (6.23±0.01%), calcium (1654.54±0.06 mg/100g), potassium (1324.54±4.18 mg/100g) and sodium (668.69±1.13 mg/100g). The results showed that the constituted diets had a significant impact on the rats weight compared to the control diet (RTC) with an average daily variation of +2.08 g/J (RTC); 1.68 g/J (ESC) and - 0.69 g/J (RPP) with respective final weights at the end of the experiment of 68.12±1g; 68.12±1g and 45.3±1g. Furthermore, the ESC diet had no negative impact on the weight of vital organs. The organs weights such as the heart (0.52±0.04g), liver (3.19±0.96g), spleen (0.28±0.03g), kidneys (0.80±0.04g) and abdominal fat (0.85±0.08g) of fed rats on the diet (ESC) showed no significant difference (p <0.05) with those of rats fed the control diet (BTI).
Highlights
Snail meat popularly has been described as a high quality food that is rich in protein, iron, contain high levels of magnesium, phosphorous and potassium but low levels of sodium, fat and cholesterol [1, 2, 3]
The results showed that the constituted diets had a significant impact on the rats weight compared to the control diet (RTC) with an average daily variation of +2.08 g/J (RTC); 1.68 g/J (ESC) and - 0.69 g/J (RPP) with respective final weights at the end of the experiment of 68.12±1g; 68.12±1g and 45.3±1g
In West Africa, snail meat has traditionally been a major source of protein in the diet of people living in the forest belt [4,5]
Summary
Snail meat popularly has been described as a high quality food that is rich in protein, iron, contain high levels of magnesium, phosphorous and potassium but low levels of sodium, fat and cholesterol [1, 2, 3]. In West Africa, snail meat has traditionally been a major source of protein in the diet of people living in the forest belt [4,5]. The four main species of edible land snails of the moist forest belt of Nigeria are Archachatina marginata (Swainson), Archachatina papyracae (Pfeiffer), Limicolaria flammea (Muller) and Limicolaria aurora (Jay) [8]. They are widely distributed in the moist forest belts of West Africa (Nigeria, the Republic of Benin, Togo, Côte d’Ivoire, Liberia, and Sierra Leone) [8]. Several African snails of the family Achatinidae have attained notoriety as pests [9]
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