Figure 1.

Effect of type of litter and direct-fed microbials (DFMs) on intestinal cytokine transcript levels in broiler chickens. Chickens were fed either DFM-enriched or DFM-free diets, and raised on fresh or used litter. Used litter was obtained from no disease outbreak farm (used litter) or a farm with histories of gangrenous dermatitis (GD litter). At 28 d post-hatch, intestinal tissues were removed and the level of transcript for IL1β, IFNγ, IL10, CXCLi2 and GAPDH were quantified by quantitative RT-PCR. Values were expressed as mean (±SD) of three replicates per treatment and evaluated by two-way ANOVA with type of litter and DFMs as main factors. A value of p<0.05 was considered significant.