Table 2. Effects of dietary Gracilaria lemaneiformis polysaccharides (GLPs) on the growth performance of broiler chickens from 0 to 42 days (d) of age.
| Items | GLP level (mg/kg) | SEM | P-value | ||||||
| 0 | 1000 | 2000 | 4000 | Linear | Quadratic | ||||
| 0 to 21 d | |||||||||
| ADFI (g/d/bird) | 44.23 | 46.31 | 47.64 | 45.25 | 0.342 | 0.175 | 0.214 | ||
| ADG (g/d/bird) | 29.46 | 31.25 | 33.43 | 30.54 | 0.133 | 0.353 | 0.156 | ||
| FCR (feed/gain, g/g) | 1.50a | 1.48ab | 1.43b | 1.48ab | 0.015 | 0.036 | 0.015 | ||
| 22 to 42 d | |||||||||
| ADFI (g/d/bird) | 129.32 | 132.44 | 137.52 | 130.28 | 1.638 | 0.215 | 0.342 | ||
| ADG (g/d/bird) | 75.74b | 80.53ab | 85.45a | 79.92ab | 0.973 | 0.029 | 0.041 | ||
| FCR (feed/gain, g/g) | 1.71a | 1.64a,b | 1.61b,c | 1.65a,b | 0.012 | 0.036 | 0.103 | ||
| 0 to 42 d | |||||||||
| ADFI (g/d/bird) | 86.25 | 89.35 | 92.55 | 89.70 | 0.852 | 0.087 | 0.289 | ||
| ADG (g/d/bird) | 53.05b | 55.85a,b | 59.41a | 54.70a,b | 0.369 | 0.045 | 0.113 | ||
| FCR (feed/gain, g/g) | 1.59 | 1.56 | 1.52 | 1.56 | 0.011 | 0.098 | 0.127 | ||
a,b,c Means within rows with different superscript letters differ significantly (P < 0.05), whereas values with no letters or the same superscript letters are not significantly different (P > 0.05).
ADG, average daily gain; ADFI, average daily feed intake; FCR, feed-to-gain ratio; SEM, standard error of the mean.