. 2024 Jul 10;11:749. doi: 10.1038/s41597-024-03584-7

Table 2.

Effect of early feeding on rumen fermentation parameters of goat kids.

Items	Treatments			SEM	P value
Items	MRO	MRC	MCA	SEM	P value
pH	7.09^a	5.88^b	6.01^b	0.15	<0.0001
NH₃-N, mg/dL	19.61^a	6.02^b	5.40^b	1.84	<0.0001
Microbial protein, mg/mL	0.02^b	1.07^a	1.24^a	0.15	0.0006
Total VFA, mmol/L	34.99^c	76.53^b	91.40^a	6.28	<0.0001
Acetate, mmol/L	22.27^c	38.75^b	45.45^a	2.64	<0.0001
Propionate, mmol/L	9.45^b	17.54^a	22.06^a	1.64	0.0014
Isobutyrate, mmol/L	0.24	0.48	0.23	0.08	0.3589
Butyrate, mmol/L	1.74^c	11.39^b	17.73^a	1.84	<0.0001
Isovalerate, mmol/L	0.56	0.98	0.91	0.16	0.547
Valerate, mmol/L	0.73^b	7.34^a	5.01^a	0.95	0.0045
Acetate:Propionate	2.55	2.23	2.2	0.13	0.5502

VFA = volatile fatty acids

In the same row, values with different small letter superscripts mean significant difference (P < 0.05). The superscripts alphabet order represents a decreasing order of the mean among groups.