The Feeding Value of Rice Husk with or Without Probiotics and Enzyme Supplementation in Replacing Groundnut Cake in the Diets of Juvenile Snails (Archanchatina Marginata)

Adeniji Adeniji, Oluwafemi Oluwafemi, R Akinpelu
2014 International Journal of Livestock Research   unpublished
A total of three hundred and sixty (360) juvenile snails (archanchatina marginata) of similar body weight and age were used to determine the effects of replacing rice husk for groundnut cake (GNC) with or without probiotics and enzyme supplementation. The experiment which lasted for ten weeks (10) was a 3x4 factorial experiment with three replacement levels of rice husk (0, 30 and 60%) for groundnut cake by four supplemental levels (No supplement, Probiotics A, Probiotics B and Enzyme). The
more » ... lts showed that increase in the inclusion level of rice husk had significant effects (P<0.05) on the rate of weight gain, feed to gain ratio, rate of gain of shell length and cost per weight gain but had no significant effect (P>0.05) on the feed intake and rate of gain of shell thickness. There were significant effects (P<0.05) of supplementation on feed intake, rate of weight gain, feed to gain ratio, rate of gain of shell length and cost per weight gain but no significant effect (P>0.05) of the supplementation was observed on the rate of gain of shell thickness. Juvenile snails fed probiotics B significantly (P<0.05) performed better than snails fed enzyme supplemented diets but significantly lower (P>0.05) than snails fed probiotics A. The interactions between the varying levels of rice husk and supplements had significant effects (P<0.05) on the final body weight and feed to gain ratio but had no significant effect (P>0.05) on the rate of weight gain, daily feed intake, rate of gain of shell length and rate of gain of shell thickness. This study showed that snails fed 30% inclusion level of rice husk supplemented with probiotics A is the best replacement for groundnut cake as it gave the best growth performance characteristics, snail shell parameters and financial returns.
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