COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF FEEDING FREQUENCIES ON GROWTH TRAITS OF FOUR SPECIES OF TORTOISES

The tortoise farming has gradually gaining ground from small to medium scale production due to high demand of white meat. However, about 60 to 70% of tortoise production cost is on feed. Thus, it becomes critical to make concerted efforts to reduce feed cost without compromising overall tortoise productivity. The aim was to evaluate the feeding frequency of tortoises via twice (10-hourly) or thrice (6-hourly) on some growth characteristics of the tortoises. The juvenile was fed with commercial Top Omega extruded fish feed pellets for Starter (4.5mm) ranged from 750.64g – 26,272.40g and Finisher (6mm) for adult tortoise ranged from 26,272.40g and above. Data collected on weight was subjected to preliminary exploratory boxplot normally analyses, and a total of 76 were statistically evaluated. Sex, species and feeding frequency showed significant (p