. 2018 Mar 27;9:574. doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2018.00574

Table 1.

Alpha diversity (mean ± SD) of rumen bacterial communities in Hu lambs with (S-ALF) or without (STA) alfalfa intervention at different ages.

Age (d)	OTUs	Chao1	Shannon	OTUs	Chao1	Shannon	OTUs	Chao1	Shannon
	STA			S-ALF			STA vs. S-ALF²
10	498 ± 60^b	1028 ± 98	5.29 ± 0.67^bc	498 ± 60^b	1028 ± 98	5.29 ± 0.67^b	–	–	–
17	566 ± 57^ab	1016 ± 110	5.33 ± 0.60^bc	558 ± 72^ab	1007 ± 75	5.50 ± 0.89^ab	0.868	0.907	0.759
24	554 ± 45^ab	1044 ± 81	5.33 ± 0.20^bc	625 ± 127^ab	1070 ± 66	5.94 ± 1.38^ab	0.407	0.660	0.496
38	487 ± 36^b	946 ± 98	4.86 ± 0.31^cd	566 ± 100^ab	1007 ± 108	5.61 ± 0.89^ab	0.102	0.354	0.086
45	586 ± 73^a	1038 ± 95	6.14 ± 0.92^ab	626 ± 31^ab	1062 ± 42	6.65 ± 0.54^ab	0.244	0.574	0.263
66	637 ± 44^a	1052 ± 67	6.68 ± 0.29^a	675 ± 77^a	1135 ± 118	7.11 ± 0.69^a	0.331	0.177	0.190
Age effect¹
From d10 to 38
Linear	0.641	0.260	0.201	0.144	0.994	0.469	–	–	–
Quadratic	0.014	0.380	0.314	0.182	0.628	0.551	–	–	–
From d10 to 66
Linear	0.002	0.795	<0.001	0.002	0.063	0.001	–	–	–
Quadratic	0.118	0.316	0.004	0.805	0.242	0.293	–	–	–

^a-cMeans within a column with different superscripts differ (P-value ≤ 0.05). ¹Linearly and quadraticly effect of age during the pre-weaning period (from d10 to 38), and the whole period (from d10 to 66). ²P-value of the comparison between STA and S-ALF group.