Table 1.

Composition of the bacterial cocktail for oral inoculation

Bacterial strain	Day 19 (CFU/mL)	Day 20 (CFU/mL)	Day 21 (CFU/mL)
E. coli	2.11 × 109	1.22 × 109	2.28 × 109
Enterococcus faecalis	3.44 × 109	2.28 × 1010	3.56 × 109
Lactobacillus salivarius	4.78 × 107	1.16 × 107	2.39 × 107
Lactobacillus crispatus	1.89 × 109	7.78 × 107	7.22 × 106
Clostridium perfringens	1 × 107	1.06 × 107	2.78 × 108
Ruminococcus gnavus	2.89 × 108	2.78 × 108	3.17 × 108

Broilers in the challenge group were orally inoculated with 1 mL of a bacterial cocktail consisting of Escherichia coli, Enterococcus faecalis, Lactobacillus salivarius, Lactobacillus crispatus, Clostridium perfringens (netB-) and Ruminococcus gnavus on day 19, 20 and 21, with number of colony-forming units (CFU) per strain as indicated in the table.