. 2023 Aug 26;13:13991. doi: 10.1038/s41598-023-40997-7

Table 7.

Impacts of prebiotics with or without heat stress on the body weight, weight gain, feed intake, and feed conversion ratio (FCR) of broilers.

Time	Groups	Body weight (g)	Weight gain (g)	Feed intake (g)	FCR
Week 1	Control	185 ± 2.88^a	146 ± 2.88^a	163.3 ± 12.81	1.117 ± 0.06
Week 1	Prebiotics	187 ± 2.79^b	148 ± 2.79^b	159.2 ± 9.33	1.074 ± 0.04
Week 2	Control	523 ± 9.66^a	338 ± 6.77^a	420.5 ± 18.58	1.243 ± 0.03^a
Week 2	Prebiotics	534 ± 8.59^b	347 ± 5.79^b	426.4 ± 16.81	1.228 ± 0.02^b
Week 3	Control	1089 ± 12.88^a	566 ± 3.21^a	734.3 ± 34.42^a	1.297 ± 0.05^a
Week 3	Prebiotics	1064 ± 12.03^b	530 ± 3.43^b	682.4 ± 32.3^b	1.287 ± 0.05^b
Week 4	Control	1831 ± 15.46	742 ± 2.57^a	1047 ± 51.39	1.41 ± 0.06
	Prebiotics	1785 ± 15.03	721 ± 3.00^b	1049 ± 58.6	1.455 ± 0.07
	Heat stress	1763 ± 18.25	674 ± 5.36^c	949 ± 65.53	1.407 ± 0.08
	Heat stress prebiotics	1759 ± 10.74	695 ± 1.28^d	1008 ± 51.67	1.45 ± 0.07
Week 5	Control	2450 ± 19.05^a	619 ± 4.04^a	1278 ± 61.2	2.063 ± 0.08
	Prebiotics	2340 ± 12.7^b	555 ± 2.3^b	1126 ± 31.47	2.029 ± 0.06
	Heat stress	2250 ± 23.62^c	487 ± 5.36^c	1121 ± 64.63	2.300 ± 0.1
	Heat stress prebiotics	2287 ± 17.18^b,c	527.8 ± 6.64^d	1064 ± 52.65	2.013 ± 0.07
Final (cumulative day 1–35)	Control	–	2411.00 ± 19.06^a	3642 ± 178.1	1.51 ± 0.06
	Prebiotics	–	2301.00 ± 21.36^b	3443 ± 148.4	1.496 ± 0.05
	Heat stress	–	2211.00 ± 23.67^c	3389 ± 196	1.531 ± 0.07
	Heat stress prebiotics	–	2260.00 ± 21.07^b,c	3340 ± 163.1	1.485 ± 0.06

Each value represents mean ± S.E. Significant difference between groups in body weight, weight gain, feed intake, and FCR was analyzed by t-test in weeks 1, 2 and 3, and one-way ANOVA in weeks 4 and 5 at p ≤ 0.05.

Parameters in the same column followed by different superscript letters are significantly different (p ≤ 0.05).