Table 3. MRPP and PERMDISP test for significant difference between two culture stages.

MRPP test shows differences in intestinal microbiota between culture stages. Observe-delta represents the difference within group. Expect-delta represents the difference between groups. The difference between groups is larger than the difference within group (P value < 0.01). PERMDISP test whether the intestinal microbiota varied at different culture stages. The t value is calculated by Levene’s test. The asterisk represents that there is significant difference in groups (P value < 0.05). The two-asterisk represents that there is extremely significant difference in groups (P value < 0.01).

Group	MRPP			PERMDISP
	Observed-delta	Expected-delta	P value	t value	P value
Stage 1 vs Stage 2	0.2570	0.3641	0.001∗∗	3.944	0.032∗
Stage 1 vs Stage 3	0.3562	0.4173	0.001∗∗	1.149	0.001∗∗
Stage 1 vs Stage 4	0.2933	0.4677	0.001∗∗	0.882	0.014∗
Stage 1 vs Stage 5	0.3341	0.4158	0.001∗∗	8.808	0.005∗∗
Stage 2 vs Stage 3	0.3351	0.4269	0.002∗∗	15.336	0.016∗
Stage 2 vs Stage 4	0.3600	0.4871	0.001∗∗	7.536	0.002∗∗
Stage 2 vs Stage 5	0.3054	0.3201	0.024∗	6.575	0.023∗
Stage 3 vs Stage 4	0.2388	0.3006	0.001∗∗	3.351	0.004∗∗
Stage 3 vs Stage 5	0.2661	0.2769	0.049∗	10.261	0.039∗
Stage 4 vs Stage 5	0.3121	0.3546	0.001∗∗	5.906	0.002∗∗