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. 2023 Feb 22;13(5):795. doi: 10.3390/ani13050795

Table 9.

Composition of the fecal samples depending on sampling time (T1, T2, and T3) and protein level in the diet 1.

Parameter Sampling Time Protein Level Significance Level 2
T1 T2 T3
High Low Mean High Low Mean High Low Mean High Low Sampling Time Protein Level Sampling Time × Protein Level
Physico-chemical parameters:
Dry matter (DM) 24.2 26.1 25.2C 26.5 27.6 27.1B 27.8 29.4 28.6A 26.2B 27.7A ** ** NS
Organic matter (% DM) 87.6 88.8 88.2B 89.1 89.1 89.1A 89.2 89.8 89.5A 88.7B 89.2A ** ** **
Total N (% DM) 4.53 4.08 4.30A 3.58 3.29 3.43B 3.01 2.94 2.98C 3.70A 3.44B ** ** NS
Ammonium N (% DM) 0.61 0.56 0.59A 0.61 0.51 0.56A 0.49 0.45 0.47B 0.57A 0.51B ** ** NS
pH 6.31 6.32 6.31B 6.59 6.55 6.57A 6.62 6.52 6.57A 6.51A 6.46A ** NS NS
Crude fiber (% DM) 15.4 14.8 15.1B 16.4 17.1 16.7A 17.6 17.2 17.4A 16.5A 16.4A ** NS NS
Hemicellulose 19.9 23.0 21.4C 25.0 27.9 26.1B 30.3 32.1 31.1A 25.0B 27.7A ** ** NS
Cellulose 14.4 15.6 15.0B 16.5 16.6 16.6A 16.1 16.3 16.2A 15.7B 16.5A ** * NS
Volatile fatty acids (mmol kg−1 DM):
Acetic 183 197 190A 237 214 225A 181 189 185A 200A 200A NS NS NS
Propionic 62.1 60.3 61.2B 76.7 75.3 76.0A 66.1 66.1 66.1AB 68.3A 67.2A * NS NS
Iso-butyric 13.5 26.6 21.1A 29.7 22.6 26.1A 18.5 20.2 19.4A 21.2A 23.1A NS NS NS
Butyric 51.3 43.4 47.3A 53.7 47.2 50.5A 40.7 42.7 41.7A 48.5A 44.4A NS NS NS
Isovaleric 10.7 12.1 11.4B 17.2 14.1 15.6A 15.1 12.7 13.9A 14.3A 13.0B ** * *
Valeric 10.1 11.3 10.7B 14.0 11.7 12.9A 10.9 10.3 10.6B 11.6A 11.1A * NS NS
Isocaproic 4.38 6.13 5.26A 4.42 5.43 4.92A 3.92 4.80 4.36A 4.24A 5.46A NS NS NS
Caproic 3.18 3.18 3.18A 4.10 2.48 3.29A 2.33 2.32 2.32A 3.21A 2.66A NS NS NS
Total 341 361 351A 441 395 418A 344 358 351A 400A 367A NS NS NS

1 T1: sampling after weaning, before the change of feed, T2: sampling after the change of feed and before changing of housing, T3: sampling after the change of housing and before the end of the experiment (end of the post-weaning period). 2 Means sharing commons letters within the phylum are not significantly different. Capital letters refer to the main factor effects, sampling time, and protein level. Underscore letters for interaction effects are omitted. NS: not significant, *, p < 0.05, **, p < 0.01.