Table 2.

The number of operational taxonomic units (OTUs), mean richness and evenness estimates for rumen samples collected at three monthly intervals in two diet groups.

Item 1	C 2				L 3				SEM 4	p-Value 5
	C1	C2	C3	Mean	L1	L2	L3	Mean		Diet	Period	Diet × Period
OTUs	1248	1354	1379	1327	1530	1686	1414	1543	73.08	0.023	0.227	0.192
Chao1	1658	1866	1832	1786	1998	1888	2355	2080	124.9	0.064	0.199	0.247
Observed species	1204	1330	1306	1280	1478	1363	1622	1488	69.11	0.021	0.225	0.182
PD whole tree	93.51	99.07	98.30	96.96	107.5	101.1	114.6	107.7	4.076	0.034	0.309	0.275
Shannon index	7.816	7.996	8.121	7.978	8.340	7.995	8.419	8.251	0.139	0.095	0.092	0.118

¹ OTUs, operational taxonomic units; PD whole tree, phylogenetic diversity whole tree. ² C = standard energy and standard protein, where C1 indicates the first month in the C diet group and C2 indicates the second month in the C diet group, and the same pattern for C3; mean indicates the average value of C1, C2 and C3. ³ L = low energy and low protein, where L1 indicates the first month in the L diet group and L2 indicates the second month in the L diet group, and the same pattern for L3; mean indicates the average value of L1, L2 and L3. ⁴ SEM = standard error of means. ⁵ Diet = the effect of diets. Period = the effect of periods. Diet × Period = the interaction between diet and period; lowercase letters are marked only when the effect of periods was significant.