Table 6.

Effects of dietary addition of Echinacea purpurea polysaccharides (EP) on serum lipid metabolism indicators of broilers (mmol/L).

Items	Age, d	Groups1				SEM	P-value
		CON	EPL	EPM	EPH		ANOVA	Linear	Quadratic	EPs × age
TC	21	4.48a	3.85b	3.68b	4.28a	0.081	<0.001	0.464	<0.001	0.356
	42	4.43a	4.14ab	3.84b	4.34a	0.066	0.002	0.455	0.001
TG	21	1.60a	1.40ab	1.22b	1.48abA	0.045	0.014	0.271	0.005	0.496
	42	1.42a	1.33a	1.04b	1.20abB	0.043	0.004	0.012	0.004
HDL-C	21	2.47bB	2.58bB	3.36aB	3.29a	0.111	0.001	<0.001	<0.001	0.091
	42	3.42bA	3.56abA	3.93aA	3.66ab	0.067	0.038	0.083	0.032
LDL-C	21	0.94	0.93	0.90	0.92	0.011	0.589	0.347	0.496	0.796
	42	0.96	0.92	0.89	0.92	0.011	0.108	0.157	0.045

TC = total cholesterol; TG = triglyceride; HDL-C = high density lipoprotein cholesterol; LDL-C = low density lipoprotein cholesterol; CON = control; SEM = standard error of the mean.

Different lowercase letter superscripts in the same row indicate significant differences among EP addition levels (0.0, 0.3%, 0.6%, and 0.9%) (P < 0.05). Different uppercase letter superscripts within the same column indicate significant differences between age stages (21 and 42 d) (P < 0.05); EPs × age denotes the interaction between EP addition levels and ages.

¹CON, EPL, EPM, and EPH, represent EP addition levels of 0.0, 0.3%, 0.6%, and 0.9% in the diet, respectively (n = 6).