Table 5.

Effect of starter NDF levels on morphometrics of the rumen in lambs

	Treatments					P-value1
Items, μM	NDF14	NDF18	NDF22	NDF26	SEM	Trt	L	Q
Papillae length	1,628.16	1,577.31	1,623.34	1,614.19	45.85	0.984	0.992	0.830
Papillae width	353.35a	309.88b	297.49b	308.55b	6.52	0.008	0.008	0.033
Keratin layer thickness	64.23a	54.21b	57.11b	52.55b	1.29	0.005	0.004	0.273
Muscle layers thickness	458.25c	759.26a	586.04b	682.19ab	18.40	0.000	0.003	0.005
Epithelium thickness	126.23a	114.63a	117.16a	97.12b	2.35	0.000	0.000	0.335

¹L, linear effect; Q, quadratic effect; Trt, treatment effect.

^a–cDifferences between treatments (P < 0.05).