Factors affecting the food intake, growth and protein utilization in the Helix aspersa snail. Protein content of the diet and animal age

Food intake, growth and protein utilization were studied in the Helix aspersa snail by means of a nutritional balance experiment. This was designed in a 5·11 factorial arrangement involving 5 diets of different protein content (10·0, 12·5, 15·0, 17·5 and 20·0%) and 11 animal ages (ranging over 15 to...

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Bibliographic Details
Authors: Sanz-Sampelayo, María Remedios, Fonollá, J., Gil Extremera, Francisca
Format: article
Status:Published version
Publication Date:1991
Country:España
Institution:Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)
Repository:DIGITAL.CSIC. Repositorio Institucional del CSIC
OAI Identifier:oai:digital.csic.es:10261/275552
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/10261/275552
Access Level:Open access
Keyword:Helix aspersa
Food intake
Growth
Protein utilization
Description
Summary:Food intake, growth and protein utilization were studied in the Helix aspersa snail by means of a nutritional balance experiment. This was designed in a 5·11 factorial arrangement involving 5 diets of different protein content (10·0, 12·5, 15·0, 17·5 and 20·0%) and 11 animal ages (ranging over 15 to 180 days of age). Dietary protein content and animal age determined food intake and protein utilization. The variations of dry matter and protein intake rates, growth rates, growth effeciency factors and protein retention rates, depending on dietary protein content or animal age were in agreement with what happens in other animals. These results suggest that there is no need to use diets with more than 17·5% of crude protein in these animals.