GROWTH PERFORMANCE OF GIANT AFRICAN LAND SNAIL FED DIFFERENT CALCIUM SOURCES

The effect of wood ash, bone meal, egg shell and calcium carbonate as different calcium sources were investigated in the diet of growing snails for 8 weeks. A total of 100 growing snails were randomly allotted to 5 groups, each group replicated 4 times at 5 snails per replicate making 20 snails per treatment in a completely randomized design. Feeds were formulated to contain 10% of each of the different calcium sources while the fifth group was left as control with none of the investigated calcium sources. The results showed that wood ash (58.81±12.15) g and bone meal (58.46±11.84) g dietary supplement gave the best weight gain, while the calcium carbonate (55.84±13.26)g dietary supplement gave the least weight gain. The study has shown that the inclusion wood dash or bone meal as a dietary supplement in snail feed can enhance snail production. Therefore, the inclusion of 10% wood ash or bone meal in dietary supplement in the snail feed is recommended to snail farmers for effective production.