Table 2.

Body weight, biomarkers of Fe status and feed consumption throughout the study.

Variable	Diet	Baseline	Week 1	Week 2	Week 3	Week 4	Week 5	Week 6
Body Weight (kg)	Control	0.125 ± 0.007	0.158 ± 0.004	0.195 ± 0.007	0.236 ± 0.010	0.286 ± 0.013	0.355 ± 0.016	0.365 ± 0.029
	Biofortified	0.122 ± 0.006	0.160 ± 0.004	0.191 ± 0.007	0.222 ± 0.010	0.260 ± 0.014	0.318 ± 0.018	0.353 ± 0.029
Hb (g/L)	Control	72.7 ± 2.3	96.5 ± 1.6	112.2 ± 1.2***	103.5 ± 3.5	99.6 ± 3.7	82.4 ± 3.7	94.9 ± 3.6
	Biofortified	72.7 ± 2.3	93.2 ± 1.6	92.5 ± 1.5	97.8 ± 3.7	104.7 ± 4.0	91.4 ± 3.4	101.2 ± 3.5
Total Body Hb (mg)	Control	2.59 ± 0.14	4.26 ± 0.124	6.15 ± 0.17***	7.09 ± 0.35	7.87 ± 0.33	8.48 ± 0.67	9.83 ± 1.01
	Biofortified	2.52 ± 0.13	4.20 ± 0.124	4.72 ± 0.17	6.21 ± 0.39	7.57 ± 0.36	7.74 ± 0.70	10.06 ± 0.98
HME (%)	Control		12.16 ± 0.879	13.80 ± 0.67***	10.21 ± 0.77	8.32 ± 0.50	4.36 ± 0.76	3.14 ± 1.02
	Biofortified		11.17 ± 0.879	7.14 ± 0.71	8.56 ± 0.85	8.41 ± 0.55	4.65 ± 0.76	5.84 ± 1.00
FCR	Control		5.85 ± 0.738	4.82 ± 0.55	6.10 ± 0.52	7.98 ± 0.51	4.09 ± 0.24	22.30 ± 3.19
	Biofortified		4.86 ± 0.736	5.98 ± 0.55	6.14 ± 0.57	6.89 ± 0.53	3.63 ± 0.25	19.81 ± 2.99
Feed Intake (g)	Control		180.6 ± 20.0	157.8 ± 13.3	251.0 ± 27.4	299.9 ± 41.9	284.5 ± 29.8	243.7 ± 25.2
	Biofortified		171.0 ± 20.0	152.6 ± 13.3	201.3 ± 27.4	244.8 ± 41.9	190.8 ± 29.8	185.6 ± 21.8
Cumulative Feed Intake (g)	Control			338.5 ± 31.6	589.5 ± 50.7	889.4 ± 91.2	1174.0 ± 119.0	1333.0 ± 153.0
	Biofortified			323.6 ± 31.6	524.9 ± 50.7	769.7 ± 91.2	960.0 ± 119.0	1096.0 ± 153.0
Cumulative FCR	Control			4.56 ± 0.38	5.00 ± 0.39	5.45 ± 0.63	4.92 ± 0.52	6.12 ± 0.85
	Biofortified			5.15 ± 0.38	5.25 ± 0.39	4.73 ± 0.63	4.16 ± 0.52	4.66 ± 0.73

Values represent mean ± SEM of at least nine biological replicates. Asterisks denote significant differences between diet treatments for p ≤ 0.001 (***) as determined by Student’s t-test. Hb: hemoglobin, HME: hemoglobin maintenance efficiency, FCR: feed conversion ratio.