Table 5. Effects of the phytase and Ca/P levels on ileal microbiota in broiler chickens (log cfu/ml digesta).

Treatment	DAPI	BACTO	CPREF	ENTER	LAB	CLEPT	STRC	EREC	BIF
PC	9.139 b	7.933	8.103	8.225 a	7.858 b	7.604 a b	7.656 a	7.784 b	7.915 a
PC + PHY	9.592 a	7.799	8.048	8.160 a	8.048 a	7.571 b	7.492 b	7.878 a	7.628 c
NC	8.572 c	7.942	7.868	7.985 b	8.002 a	7.510 b	7.567 a b	7.703 c	7.934 a
NC + PHY	8.978 b	7.911	7.961	7.894 b	8.064 a	7.675 a	7.577 a b	7.704 c	7.748 b
Pooled SEM	0.0467	0.0285	0.0390	0.0268	0.0200	0.0168	0.0159	0.0097	0.0169
Model P	<.0001	0.2555	0.1558	<.0001	0.0007	0.0041	0.0034	<.0001	<.0001
Main Effects
P and Ca level
Optimal	9.369 a	7.865	8.075 a	8.192 a	7.954 b	7.587	7.572	7.831 a	7.769 b
Deficient	8.775 b	7.926	7.914 b	7.939 b	8.033 a	7.593	7.572	7.704 b	7.841 a
Phytase
None	8.851 b	7.938	7.983	8.103	7.931 b	7.556 b	7.611 a	7.743 b	7.924 a
5000 FTU/kg	9.285 a	7.855	8.004	8.027	8.056 a	7.623 a	7.534 b	7.791 a	7.688 b
P-value
P and Ca level	<.0001	0.2870	0.0388	<.0001	0.0350	0.8806	0.9564	<.0001	0.0060
PHY	<.0001	0.1474	0.8069	0.1107	0.0011	0.0407	0.0129	0.0013	<.0001
Interaction Terms
P and Ca level x PHY	0.7151	0.3679	0.3396	0.7899	0.0943	0.0025	0.0051	0.0015	0.0454

DAPI – total number of bacteria; BACTO – Bacteroides – Prevotella cluster; CPREF – Clostridium perfringens; ENTER – Enterobacteriaceae; LAB – Lactobacillus sp./Enterococcus sp.; CLEPT – Clostridium leptum subgroup; STRC – Streptococcus/Lactococcus; EREC – Clostridium coccoides—Eubacterium rectale cluster; BIF – Bifidobacterium sp.

PC – positive control (diet adequate in Ca and dP levels); NC – negative control (diet with reduced Ca and dP levels by 0.14 and 0.13% respectively); PC + PHY / NC + PHY – positive/negative control supplemented with 5000 FTU of 6-phytase (EC 3.1.3.26) per 1kg of complete feed

SEM—standard error of the mean

^a-cWithin the same column, different superscripts indicate significant differences between treatments (P<0.05)