Table 5.

Effects of the partial replacement of corn with wheat on the intestinal development of 39-d-old broilers.

Item	Low	Medium	High	P-value
Relative weight, g/100 g body weight
Glandular stomach	0.54 ± 0.15	0.52 ± 0.10	0.43 ± 0.10	0.184
Gizzard	0.86 ± 0.28	0.83 ± 0.18	0.68 ± 0.11	0.183
Duodenum	0.62 ± 0.11	0.57 ± 0.09	0.56 ± 0.10	0.445
Jejunum	0.92 ± 0.10	1.06 ± 0.20	1.27 ± 0.83	0.390
Ileum	0.91 ± 0.27	0.74 ± 0.12	0.90 ± 0.16	0.170
Cecum	0.62 ± 0.11	0.63 ± 0.14	0.67 ± 0.19	0.748
Relative length, cm/100 g body weight
Duodenum	1.05 ± 0.09	1.07 ± 0.07	1.08 ± 0.12	0.775
Jejunum	2.09 ± 0.24	2.13 ± 0.33	2.38 ± 0.38	0.170
Ileum	2.19 ± 0.39	2.19 ± 0.58	2.21 ± 0.44	0.997
Cecum	0.64 ± 0.06	0.63 ± 0.09	0.59 ± 0.10	0.425
Intestinal morphology
Duodenum
Muscular thickness, μm	148.79 ± 24.31	165.17 ± 35.38	171.38 ± 52.12	0.500
Villus height, μm	1776.30 ± 197.80	1885.34 ± 183.42	2093.35 ± 461.93	0.138
Crypt depth, μm	216.98 ± 42.41	234.15 ± 31.51	224.44 ± 43.81	0.690
Villus height to crypt depth	8.36 ± 1.18	8.21 ± 1.61	9.35 ± 1.26	0.216
Jejunum
Muscular thickness, μm	169.36 ± 56.37	181.65 ± 20.67	149.45 ± 24.60	0.245
Villus height, μm	1675.74 ± 299.15	1711.70 ± 194.51	1785.43 ± 209.25	0.561
Crypt depth, μm	214.48 ± 34.51a	231.45 ± 64.03a	169.01 ± 18.76b	0.025
Villus height to crypt depth	8.10 ± 2.49	8.12 ± 3.24	10.68 ± 1.82	0.094
Ileum
Muscular thickness, μm	179.94 ± 34.66	204.90 ± 46.31	221.15 ± 57.66	0.236
Villus height, μm	828.66 ± 53.40b	1282.27 ± 93.68a	1340.90 ± 72.15a	<0.001
Crypt depth, μm	179.03 ± 13.26	175.38 ± 38.75	163.56 ± 39.52	0.623
Villus height to crypt depth	4.64 ± 0.37b	7.69 ± 2.05a	8.54 ± 1.75a	0.002

All the results were shown as mean ± standard deviation. Means without common superscript are significantly different at P < 0.05 (n = 8).