Tropicultura (Jan 1997)
The Use of Golden Snail (Pomacea sp.) as Animal Feed in the Philippines
Abstract
The golden snail is introduced to the Philippines in early 80's for culture as food source. This herbivorous snail, a voracious feeder of live and fresh plant materials become a serious rice pest. Its elimination in the ecosystems is impossible. To use them as animal feed is much better alternative for their control and more environmentally friendly than the use of chemicals. Thus, this mini review paper aimed to collate any existing information on the use of golden snail as animal feed. The different meal forms that can be extracted are golden snail meal (30 % calcium and 15 % crude protein), golden snail meat meal (62 % crude protein and 3336 kcal/kg) and golden shell meal (35 % calcium). Feeding trials indicate that golden snail meal can be a part of swine and chicken layer diets up to 15 %. Golden snail meat meal can be a part of broiler chicken diet up to 12 %. Feeding fresh and ground golden snail to ducks can replace 50 % of their diet under total confinement system. Whereas, golden snail meat meal (75 % of the diet) plus rice bran can be beneficially fed to tilapia. With the information collated, golden snail can be a promising animal feed in the Philippines.
