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¹ University of Lilongwe and Natural Resources, Bunda College of Agriculture, P.O. Box 219, Lilongwe, Malawi
² University of Zambia, Department of Biological Sciences, P. O. Box 32379, Lusaka, Zambia DOI : 10.4194/1303-2712-v13_3_13 Viewed : 4603 - Downloaded : 3899 An experiment was set to determine the optimal plant based lipid of soy bean and maize on the growth and feed utilisation of Oreochromis andersonii. Three isonitrogenous diets containing 30% crude protein with increasing dietary lipid levels (10, 15, and 20%) were provided at 5% live body weight to triplicate groups of 10 fish replicated four times for 55 days. There were no significant differences (P>0.05) in growth indices (final mean weight, body weight gain (BWG) and specific growth rate (SGR)) and feed utilisation (protein efficiency ratio (PER) and apparent feed conversion efficiency (AFCE)) determined. Second order polynomial regression of BWG on lipid level (Y = -0.0043x2 + 0.1284x + 21.499) showed 14.9% to be optimal. The most economical dietary lipid level is below 10% lipid level as indicated by the negative linear regression (Y = -0.1766x + 303.85). Of the lipid levels used, 10% appears to meet the minimum requirement for this species. Keywords : Soybean, maize, lipid, Oreochromis andersonii, growth