Snail meal, Fresh snails, Boiled snails, Raw snails, Golden snail (Pomacea sp.)(Pomacea ensularis canalicuta), Golden apple snail (Ampularia sp.), Helix aspersa, Land snail (Trachia vittata), Pila globosa

Description: 

Snails are plentiful in many parts of the world. Some snails are quite large (African giant snail can be over 30 cm long. Snails are a viable supplemental protein source in some parts of the world and can be used to replace other animal protein sources in feed rations. Feeding raw snails gives poor growth (2) (CAB 811430142) (Creswell, 1981). Boiling snails for 10 to 15 minutes prior to feeding or drying will improve animal performance (1) (CAB 771453469) (Venugopalan, 1976),(2) (CAB 811430142) (Creswell, 1981). Supplementation with 0.2 % methionine in a diet containing 20 % snail meal further improved growth in poultry (2)(CAB 811430142) (Creswell, 1981). 

Source: 

Snails can be quite plentiful in some regions or they can also be introduced and raised on agricultural waste. They can be collected and processed in to a viable supplemental protein source.

Processing: 

Cooking and removing the shell increased feeding value of snail meal (11) (AGRIS 91-015264) (Baldos, 1988).

Feeding Trials: 

Chick growth trials showed that gains were similar between fish meal and boiled dried snail meal and intake was higher for the snail meal (1) (CAB 771453469) (Venugopalan, 1976). Snail meal when fed at 4, 8, 12 % levels in the diets of broilers was found to be a suitable replacement for fish and meat and bone meals (5) (CAB 931454476) (June, 1991). Fifty percent replacement of fish meal with snail meal in broiler diets showed no depression in growth or feed conversion (6) (CAB 931462969) (Arockiam, 1992). Body weight, live weight gains were similar to broilers fed a maize-soybean diet (7) (CAB 961401457) (Ali, 1995). Levels of snail meal up to 12 % in diets for broilers (4) (CAB 991406828) (Serra, 1998). Snail fed up to 5% of the diet didn. t depress egg weight and up to 10% didn. t depress egg production in layers (3) (CAB 811430143) (Creswell, 1981). Up to 15 % Golden Snail Meal was found to be able to be fed to layers without depressing performance (4) (CAB 991406828) (Serra, 1998). Layers performed best when snail meal was fed at the 10 % level. Snail meal was found to be comparable to fish meal when used as a supplemental protein source in layer diets (9) (AGRIS 92-067107) (Lachica, 1990). Ducks can tolerate up to 50% snail meal (4) (CAB 991406828) (Serra, 1998). Tilapia performed best when 75 % snail meal + 25 % rice bran was fed (4) (CAB 991406828) (Serra, 1998). Snail meal was found to have a slightly lower value then fish meal in diets for tilapia (10) (AGRIS 92-027088) (Cagauan, 1989).

Nutrient characteristics: