. 2018 Oct 12;9:2328. doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2018.02328

Table 5.

Villus height, crypt depth, and villus height/crypt depth ratio in the small intestine of pullets fed on different dietary treatments from 0 to 16 weeks.

Parameters	Period (weeks)	AGP	BA3	BA6	BA12	BA16	SEM	P-value
DUODENUM
Villus height (VH) (μm)	3	480.98	464.95	–	–	–	36.43	0.668
	6	665.27	592.60	602.51	–	–	14.65	0.083
	12	600.57	596.93	612.52	628.60	–	12.22	0.245
	16	619.46	586.26	639.50	608.88	608.05	10.38	0.579
Crypt depth (CD) (μm)	3	56.35^a	44.40^b	–	–	–	2.71	0.001
	6	68.86	68.53	69.59	–	–	1.54	0.964
	12	49.44	49.38	46.83	49.34	–	0.95	0.817
	16	53.79	54.31	53.17	56.21	53.22	0.74	0.729
VH/CD	3	8.59	10.62	–	–	–	0.96	0.058
	6	9.66	8.74	8.81	–	–	0.28	0.338
	12	12.22	12.11	13.05	13.07	–	0.34	0.618
	16	11.58	10.82	12.01	10.89	11.44	0.20	0.265
JEJUNUM
Villus height (VH) (μm)	3	263.04^a	234.86^b	–	–	–	12.60	0.049
	6	311.89	346.20	342.39	–	–	11.41	0.134
	12	364.29^b	421.54^a	351.80^b	377.32^ab	–	9.63	0.046
	16	385.24^b	435.25^ab	399.59^b	422.24^ab	494.85^a	12.20	0.038
Crypt depth (CD) (μm)	3	43.43^a	36.70^b	–	–	–	1.47	0.001
	6	48.29	49.49	49.91	–	–	1.00	0.562
	12	49.31	53.98	46.21	51.00	–	1.11	0.085
	16	50.13	53.05	54.04	55.53	53.35	0.76	0.203
VH/CD	3	6.08	6.44	–	–	–	0.43	0.423
	6	6.49	7.00	6.89	–	–	0.21	0.140
	12	6.91	7.60	6.91	7.34	–	0.16	0.347
	16	7.70	8.24	7.41	7.60	9.34	0.24	0.065
ILEUM
Villus height (VH) (μm)	3	249.41^a	220.51^b	–	–	–	12.45	0.039
	6	281.34	252.94	279.54	–	–	8.04	0.158
	12	290.41^b	373.96^a	358.58^a	371.01^a	–	11.97	0.023
	16	405.97	370.11	380.81	380.75	440.07	12.71	0.460
Crypt depth (CD) (μm)	3	42.51	40.43	–	–	–	3.78	0.593
	6	45.26	45.24	45.84	–	–	1.08	0.509
	12	51.20^a	46.80^b	42.66^b	43.51^b	–	1.01	0.002
	16	49.29	51.75	52.27	51.62	51.52	0.74	0.786
VH/CD	3	5.97	5.55	–	–	–	0.47	0.386
	6	6.28	5.61	6.09	–	–	0.16	0.073
	12	6.30^b	7.70^a	8.27^a	8.12^a	–	0.25	0.012
	16	8.24	7.18	7.25	7.42	8.63	0.25	0.260

AGP, the AGPs group (supplemented with AGPs based on basal diets for 16 weeks); BA3, the BA3 group (supplemented with AGPs and B. subtilis based on basal diets for 3 weeks); BA6, the BA6 group (supplemented with AGPs and B. subtilis based on basal diets for 6 weeks); BA12, the BA12 group (supplemented with AGPs and B. subtilis based on basal diets for 12 weeks); BA16, the BA16 group (supplemented with AGPs and B. subtilis based on basal diets for 16 weeks). The different superscripted capital letters in the same segment indicate an adjusted significant difference at P < 0.05.