Utilization of dry unpeeled sweet potato (Ipomea batatas) in the diet of snails

This study was designed to determine the effect of inclusion of varying levels of dry unpeeled dry sweet potato on growth characteristics and cost analysis of growing snails (Archachatina marginata). One hundred and twenty snails of mean weight of 86.6 g were randomly selected and allotted to 4 dietary treatments. Each treatment was replicated thrice with ten snails per replicate in a completely randomized design. Four diets were formulated to contain 0 % (T1), 10 %(T2), 20 % (T3), 30 % (T4) dry unpeeled sweet potato (DSP) of the entire diet. The parameters taken were weight gain, feed intake on weekly and daily basis respectively. Feed conversion ratio, total feed cost, and cost per weight gain were calculated. Significant differences were not observed in the mean monthly feed intake of snails fed diet containing varied levels of DSP (p>0.05). There were no significant differences in the mean monthly weight gain of snails fed diet containing 20 % DSP and the control diet (p>0.05). The feed conversion ratios were not significantly different from one another (p>0.05). The dietary treatments had no significant effect on the mean monthly shell length, width and thickness increment and dressing percentage of the snails (p>0.05). The lowest cost/weight gain was recorded in the diet containing 30 % DSP. Snail could tolerate up to 30 % dry unpeeled sweet potato in the diet without any adverse effect but at a reduced cost.