Table 5.

Effect of different levels of thyme essential oil and antibiotic on intestine morphology of quail in 35 d¹

	Villi height, μm			Villi width, μm			Crypt dept, µm
Treatments	Duodenum	Jejunum	Ileum	Duodenum	Jejunum	Ileum	Duodenum	Jejunum	Ileum
Control	993.3c	806.0c	750.0b	93.3a	86.6ab	85.3bc	84.0a	74.6	68.6
Antibiotic2	1,007.3c	864.0b	808.6ab	94.6a	89.3b	89.3a	84.0a	77.3	68.0
T200	1,051.3b	904.6a	848.6a	84.0b	87.3ab	84.6b	56.0c	72.6	62.6
T300	1,059.3ab	918.0a	870.6a	86.0b	90.6ab	90.6a	62.0b	78.0	68.0
T400	1,074.6a	924.6a	758.0b	88.0b	91.3a	88.0ab	60.0b	74.6	66.0
P-value3	<.0001	<.0001	0.023	0.002	0.089	0.011	<.0001	0.185	0.291
SEM	4.61	6.74	21.65	1.31	1.06	0.93	1.00	1.36	1.77
P-value for contrasts3
Control vs. antibiotic	0.396	0.002	0.496	0.968	0.565	0.137	1.000	0.754	0.999
Control vs. T200	0.0001	<.0001	0.107	0.010	0.994	0.991	<.0001	0.891	0.300
Control vs. T300	<.0001	<.0001	0.041	0.041	0.221	0.035	<.0001	0.587	0.999
Control vs. T400	<.0001	<.0001	0.999	0.171	0.126	0.447	<.0001	1.000	0.881
Antibiotic vs. T200	0.001	0.026	0.787	0.171	0.777	0.070	<.0001	0.294	0.401
Antibiotic vs. T300	0.0003	0.004	0.447	0.015	0.934	0.899	<.0001	0.998	1.000
Antibiotic vs. T400	<.0001	0.001	0.622	0.067	0.777	0.899	<.0001	0.754	0.953

¹All data are average of 5 replicates.

²Antibiotic is 100 ppm flavophospholipol. T200, T300, and T400 indicate the levels of 200, 300, and 400 ppm of Thymus vulgaris essential oil.

³Significance level (P < 0.05) by 95% confidence interval.

^abc Different superscripts indicate significant differences (P < 0.05) within the same column.