Abstract

It has been established that performance of livestock is affected by stocking density. Overcrowding has been found to have negative effects on growth and reproductive performance hence, this study was conducted to establish appropriate stocking density for breeding snails. A total of two hundred and twenty-five breeding African giant land snails (Archachatina marginata) without shell damage were selected for this trial which lasted 6 months. The snails had an average live weight of 437.41 ± 11.56 g. They were randomly allotted to 5 different treatments T_K, T_L, T_M, T_N T_O, with stocking rates of 5, 10, 15, 20 and 25 snails per square metre, respectively. Each treatment was replicated thrice in a completely randomized design. Feed intake, weight gain, shell length and width were measured while reproductive parameters in terms of number and weight of the eggs collected, incubation period and mean weight of the hatchlings at day old were also taken. The results showed no significant (P > 0.05) differences in mean feed intake and weight gain in T_K, T_L, and T_M while the lowest mean feed intake and weight gain were recorded in T_o, stocked at 25 snails per square metre. There were no significant differences in the mean monthly shell length increment (P > 0.05). The highest mortality of 25.3% was recorded in T_Ostocked with 25 breeding snails per square metre. The highest mean total egg collection of 32.61 eggs was recorded in T_K which was relatively the same with T_L, T_M and T_N (P > 0.05). The mean weight of the eggs were relatively the same (P > 0.05) in T_K, T_L , T_M and T_N . The lowest mean egg weight was recorded in T_o. It could be concluded that one metre square apartment could house up to 15 breeding snails without any adverse effect on growth, reproduction and state of health of the breeding snails.

Key words: Egg size, hatchling’s weight, Nigeria, snails, stocking rate, weight gain.