Table 3.

Alpha diversity of archaeal community (Chao 1, observed OTU and Shannon index) in the rumen of control lambs (C1) and lambs treated with a linseed-garlic combination (T1) from birth up to 10 weeks of age.

Archaea	C1		T1		SEM	P-value
						T1	T2	T1 × T2
8 weeks
Chao1	116.74		79.59		8.695	0.0039	n/a	n/a
Observed OTU	101.93		63.79		8.049	<0.0001	n/a	n/a
Shannon index	2.83		2.04		0.159	0.0009	n/a	n/a
14 weeks
Chao1	157.48		130.66		7.730	0.0185	n/a	n/a
Observed OTU	145.36		117.96		7.658	0.0145	n/a	n/a
Shannon index	3.21		2.77		0.147	0.0417	n/a	n/a
	C1–C2	C1–T2	T1–C2	T1–T2
20 weeks
Chao1	177.45	151.49	179.19	175.95	7.031	0.0685	0.0432	0.1129
Observed OTU	159.64	138.79	169.85	160.08	7.408	0.0386	0.0441	0.4581
Shannon index	3.57	3.04	3.60	3.11	0.153	0.7444	0.0017	0.8984

At 16 weeks of age four groups were formed and lambs were retreated or not with the same treatment for 4 weeks (C2 and T2).

n = 28 for C1, 28 for T1 8 weeks, 26 for T1 14 weeks, 14 for C1–C2, C1–T2, T1–C2, 13 for T1–T2. n/a not applicable.