Table 3.

Effect of C. butyricum on serum biochemical parameters of broilers

Item	Control	CB1	CB2	CB3	Antibiotic	Pooled SE	P -value
21 daysa
Total cholesterol (mM)	3.78a	3.51abc	3.25c	3.42bc	3.65ab	0.1	0.0111
Triglyceride (mM)	0.74	0.72	0.75	0.68	0.67	0.10	0.0111
High-density lipoprotein cholesterol (mM)	2.35a	2.28ab	2.05c	2.10bc	2.23abc	0.07	0.0233
Low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (mM)	1.27	1.24	1.23	1.20	1.27	0.05	0.8976
42 daysa
Total cholesterol (mM)	3.37a	3.05b	2.96b	2.90b	3.09ab	0.1	0.0287
Triglyceride (mM)	0.41	0.37	0.30	0.32	0.36	0.03	0.1437
High-density lipoprotein cholesterol (mM)	2.06	1.93	1.81	1.88	2.02	0.07	0.1216
Low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (mM)	1.06	1.01	0.98	1.04	1.05	0.06	0.8519

Means with different letters within the same row differ (P < 0.05).

Control = basal diet; CB1 = the basal diet supplemented with 2.5 × 10⁸ cfu of C. butyricum/kg; CB2 = the basal diet supplemented with 5 × 10⁸ cfu of C. butyricum/kg; CB3 = the basal diet supplemented with 1 × 10⁹ cfu of C. butyricum/kg; Antibiotic = the basal diet supplemented with 150 mg of aureomycin/kg.

^aEach value represents the mean of 8 cages with one chick per cage (n = 8 per treatment).