Table 5.

Absolute abundance of total bacteria (log₁₀ copy number per gram of ileal digesta), as well as the relative abundance of selected bacteria within the ileal bacterial communities (%).

Taxon	Day 42		Day 84		SEM	P-value
	CON	EW	CON	EW		Weaning time	Age	W × A
Total bacteria	11.37	11.05	11.07	11.34	0.041	0.751	0.913	0.002
Lactobacillus spp.	2.13	0.12	1.15	0.16	0.171	0.001	0.191	0.162
Bifidobacterium spp.	0.95	1.24	1.29	0.25	0.307	0.291	0.551	0.604
Escherichia subgroup	0.17	0.13	0.03	0.18	0.018	0.144	0.220	0.023

Escherichia subgroup was composed of E. coli, Hafnia alvei and Shigella spp. The relative abundances are expressed as percentages, calculated by dividing the 16S rRNA gene copy number of each bacterium/group by the 16S rRNA gene copy number of total bacteria. The CON group was weaned on day 56; the EW group was weaned on day 28.