Nutrient Intake Analysis of African Giant Land Snail (Archachatina marginata) Fed Formulated Concentrate Diet and Municipal Organic Waste

This study was conducted to assess the nutrient intake of African giant land snail (Archachatina marginata) fed formulated concentrate diet (FCD) and municipal organic waste (MOW). Two hundred and twenty (220) hatchlings were used. The snails were divided into five (5) treatments groups and replicated four (4) times. Each replicate contains eleven (11) snails giving a total of 44 snails per treatment group. Five (5) experimental diets were formulated: T1, T2, T3, T4 and T5 which contain T1; 100% formulated concentrate diet (CD), T2; 75% FCD: 25% MOW, T3; 50% FCD: 50% MOW, T4; 25% FCD: 75% MOWand T5: 100% municipal organic waste (MOW), respectively. Each treatment group was given one of the five diets. Daily weight gain, feed conversion ratio and feed intake were determined, while protein, fat and fiber values were measured. Daily weight gain and feed conversion ratio were higher in T3 followed by T1, T2, T4 and different (Pless than0.05) over T5. In feed intake, T5 was significantly (Pless than0.05) higher than other treatment groups. Digestible protein, digestible protein for growth, digestible fat for growth and digestible fiber for growth were higher in T3 than values observed in other treatment groups. Based on the observation in terms of weight gain, feed conversion ratio, digestible protein for growth, digestible fat for growth and digestible fiber for growth, it is therefore recommended that further studies should be carried on municipal organic waste as feed for other livestock at various inclusion level in order to exploit its potentials as feed ingredients.