Table 8.

Alpha diversity of cecum microflora.

Items	Additive amount of TCP					SEM	P value
	0.0%	0.2%	0.4%	0.6%	0.8%		ANOVA	Linear	Quadratic
Effective/%	62.96	62.82	61.92	61.34	62.53	0.350	0.606	0.356	0.400
OTUs number	942.00a	773.00b	758.50b	677.50b	653.50b	28.658	0.002	<0.001	<0.001
Shannon index	6.93a	6.38b	6.10b	6.13b	6.09b	0.093	0.004	0.001	<0.001
Simpson index	0.97	0.97	0.96	0.96	0.97	0.003	0.298	0.281	0.089
Chao1 index	1017.05a	837.37b	821.33b	746.49b	719.84b	29.708	0.002	<0.001	<0.001
Ace index	1024.83a	842.06b	838.97b	756.45b	740.57b	29.550	0.004	<0.001	0.001
Coverage	0.997	0.998	0.997	0.998	0.998	0.0001	0.905	0.544	0.836

Values are the means and SEM of 12 broilers (2 broilers per replicate).

^a–bMeans within a row lacking a common superscript differ significantly (P < 0.05).

Abbreviations: OTUs, operational taxonomic units; SEM, standard error of the mean; TCP, traditional Chinese prescription.