Table 2.

Effects of type of litter and direct-fed microbials (DFMs) on serum EtMIC2-specific antibody levels in broiler chickens¹

Litter type	DFM	EtMIC2
		14 d	28 d	42 d
Fresh	−	0.30	0.58	0.78
	+	0.35	0.57	1.07
Used	−	0.37	0.68	0.83
	+	0.29	0.60	0.73
GD2	−	0.51	0.59	1.52
	+	0.34	0.65	0.82
Pooled SEM3		0.05	0.08	0.05
Main effect means
Litter
Fresh		0.32	0.57	0.92b
Used		0.33	0.64	0.77c
GD		0.42	0.62	1.17a
DFM
−		0.39	0.62	1.05a
+		0.33	0.61	0.87b
Source of variation		------------------- p value -------------
Litter		0.107	0.756	0.001
DFM		0.134	0.929	0.001
Litter×DFM		0.144	0.772	0.001

^a,b,cMeans in the same column within the same factor not sharing a common superscript are significantly different (p<0.05).

¹Each value represents the mean optical density (±SD) of five birds per treatment (n = 5).

²GD = Gangrenous dermatitis.

³SEM = Standard error of the mean.