Los aditivos naturales pueden proporcionar características positivas que ayudan a que el alimento animal sea más agradable y, así, aumentar el consumo de alimento y mejorar la productividad. En este estudio, se controlaron 260 lechones de 14 a 56 días de edad, con un peso inicial de 4,34 ± 0,75 kilogramos. Se formaron 6 tratamientos con los saborizantes naturales con pro-nutrientes, más 1 tratamiento con un producto comercial, y 1 control sin saborizantes. El consumo medio diario de pienso por lechón estuvo entre 408 y 525 g, los pesos finales medios entre 19,90 a 26,30 kg, las ganancias medias diarias de peso entre 0,367 y 0,517, y las conversiones alimentarias medias estuvieron entre 0,988 y 1,195. Los costos de alimentación resultaron en promedio entre 0,78 y 0,94 dólares. Se observó que los mejores valores de ganancia de peso vivo y el índice de conversión alimenticia, y disminuyendo los costos de producción fue para los tratamientos que incluían saborizantes naturales. Se recomienda estudiar el uso de estos aromas en las etapas de crecimiento y engorde.

This study examined the effects of zinc–iron (Zn–Fe) biofortified alfalfa on mineral deposition, growth performance, feed efficiency, and selected meat-quality traits in guinea pigs (Cavia porcellus). Four alfalfa cultivars (Cuf101, Moapa69, California55, and Yaragua) were cultivated under two fertilization levels (0–0 and 2–2 kg ha⁻¹ Zn–Fe). Biofortification increased forage Zn concentrations from 26.8 to 36.4 mg kg⁻¹ to as high as 325.8 mg kg⁻¹, and Fe concentrations from 139.7 to 425.0 mg kg⁻¹ to 450.1 mg kg⁻¹. A total of 48 weaned guinea pigs (initial body weight 0.30 ± 0.01 kg) were allocated to a randomized multi-factorial feeding trial. Growth performance, feed intake, feed conversion ratio (FCR), and tissue mineral concentrations were evaluated over a 35–50 day period and analyzed using a multi-factorial ANOVA within a General Linear Model framework. Dietary biofortification resulted in a significant improvement in feed efficiency, with FCR decreasing from 6.3 in the control diet to 5.8 in the enriched diet, and the lowest FCR was observed in animals fed the California55 cultivar (5.1). No statistically significant sex effect was detected for live weight gain, although males showed higher total weight gain (248.7 g) than females (187.8 g). Tissue Zn (≈20.7 mg kg⁻¹) and Fe (≈10.2 mg kg⁻¹) concentrations in meat were only marginally affected by diet, suggesting strong physiological regulation of mineral deposition. Multivariate analyses indicated that the enriched diet produced more homogeneous meat-quality profiles and reduced inter-animal variability. Overall, Zn–Fe biofortified alfalfa improved feed efficiency without compromising growth performance or meat quality, indicating potential relevance for smallholder guinea pig production systems. However, given the limited sample size per factorial cell, the findings should be interpreted with caution and considered exploratory, warranting confirmation in larger, adequately powered studies.