Morphological Characteristics and Chemical Composition of Flesh and Haemolymph of Snails Fed Compounded Diet using Quail Droppings Meal as Protein Source

Abstract

This study investigated the morphological characteristics, and chemical composition of Archachatina marginata (African Giant Land Snail) reared on Quail droppings meal (QDM.) substituted for protein sources in snail feed. Five trial snail feeds (Diet I-V) were fed to fifty snails (average weight 157.3 g) for 12 weeks. The morphological characteristics of the snail and its flesh and haemolymph chemical composition were determined using standard methods. There was an appreciable increase in the growth parameters (weight, shell width and shell length) across the treatment groups. The feed conversion ratio (FCR) ranges from 2.74 to 3.75, and snails served Diet I gave the highest FCR. The result of the proximate analysis revealed that snail flesh possessed a higher amount of protein, fat, ash, fibre and energy except carbohydrate than hemolymph. Increasing QDM in the diets increased the proximate contents of the snail's flesh and hemolymph, except fat and fibre. The minerals found in all the treatments are not toxic, and snails fed diet V possessed the highest mineral contents (sodium, potassium, calcium, magnesium, iron and phosphorus). The result showed that diet V resulted in the best morphological parameters and feed utilisation of A. marginata snail. Substituting protein sources with QDM in snail feed improved the nutritional quality of snails, reducing the cost of the compounded ration.