Effects of feeding snails with pineapple waste on feed consumption, growth and cost benefits

Abstract

The effect of inclusion of 0, 5, 10, and 15% of pineapple waste (PW) in the diet of growing snails (Archachatina marginata), on feed consumption, growth, dressing percentage and cost benefits was studied. Each treatment was replicated thrice with 7 snails per replicate in a completely randomized design. Variables studied were: feed intake, weight gain, shell length and width, feed conversion ratio and cost per weight gain. The weight gain until 10% level of inclusion compared favourably with the control diet. The feed conversion ratio was similar, respect to control, at all levels of inclusion. The feed intake reduced as the level of PW increased (p0.05). The shell length and width were not affected by varying PW level. The dressing percent at 0, 5 and 10% levels of inclusion were not influenced by treatments. The cost/weight gain reduced as level of inclusion of PW increased in the diet. Pineapple waste could be included up to 10% in the diet of growing snails.