Effect of Gliricidia sepium Leaf Meal on the Growth Performance of Archachatina marginata

Adewumi, A. A.^1*, Osunkeye, O. J.² & Ajewole G. M.¹

¹Osun State University, Department of Wildlife and Ecotourism Management, College of Agriculture, Faculty of Renewable Natural Resources Management, Ejigbo Campus, Ejigbo, Osun State, Nigeria
²Osun State University, Department of Animal Science, College of Agriculture, Faculty of Agriculture and Management, Ejigbo Campus, Ejigbo, Osun State, Nigeria

Dr. Adewumi, A. A., Osun State University, Department of Wildlife and Ecotourism Management, College of Agriculture, Faculty of Renewable Natural Resources Management, Ejigbo Campus, Ejigbo, Osun State, Nigeria.

Keywords: Leaf Meal; Snail; Domestication

Abstract

Domestication of the giant African land snail, Archachatina marginata, requires diets of a good quality to balance the nutrient requirement. Therefore, this study examined the effect of leaves of forest tree, Gliricidia sepium as a diet (GSLM) on the growth, performance and proximate composition of meat of A. marginata. Ninety (90) giant African land snails, Archachatina marginata, were randomly allotted into five (5) experimental treatments. in a completely randomized design. The experimental diet consists of four dietary treatments of formulated feeds containing varying levels of GSLM with concentrate feed (layers mash). Treatment I was Concentrate only, and others were Concentrate with 25% GSLM inclusion, concentrate with 50% GSLM inclusion, Concentrate with 75% GSLM inclusion. were designated as Treatment II, Treatment III, Treatment IV and Treatment V respectively.

This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. (CC BY 4.0).