Effect of dietary sodium chloride on growth, feed intake, and survival of the African giant snail Archachatina marginata in a farming system

This study aimed to evaluate the effect of different dietary sodium chloride (NaCl) levels on several zootechnical performance parameters of the African giant snail, Archachatina marginata. Sixty juvenile snails, with a mean initial live weight of 9.26±0.06 g, were divided into five groups receiving isoenergetic and isoprotein diets containing 0%, 0.2%, 0.5%, 1% and 1.1%\ NaCl. The experiment lasted eight weeks under controlled conditions. Measured parameters included feed intake, weight gain, shell growth (length and diameter), and mortality. The results showed that feed intake was significantly higher for the 0% and 0.2% NaCl diets. The highest weight gain (27.17±3.5 g) was observed with the salt-free diet, while the 1.1% NaCl diet resulted in the lowest growth (17.61±4.5 g). Shell growth followed the same trend. No mortality was recorded with the 0.2% NaCl diet, compared to 4 deaths with the salt-free diet and 2 deaths with the 0.5% and 1.1% diets. Moderate NaCl supplementation (0.2%) optimises survival and allows for satisfactory growth, whereas the absence or excess of salt are unfavourable. These results highlight the importance of ionic balance in snail diets to improve farming performance.