Table 1.
Comparisons of the three alpha diversity indices richness, evenness and Shannon index within several subcategories.
| n | Richness |
Evenness |
Shannon Index |
|||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| mean and SD | p-value unpaired1 | p-value combined2 | mean and SD | p-value unpaired1 | p-value combined2 | mean and SD | p-value unpaired1 | p-value combined2 | ||||
| Disease | allergic vs. healthy | allergic horses healthy controls |
70 70 |
848 ± 249 820 ± 221 |
0.5 | 0.6 | 0.79 ± 0.06 0.80 ± 0.07 |
0.4 | 0.6 | 5.35 ± 0.56 5.34 ± 0.57 |
0.9 | 1.0 |
| CH vs. healthy | CH-affected horses healthy controls |
30 30 |
887 ± 218 881 ± 252 |
0.8 | 0.8 | 0.81 ± 0.05 0.79 ± 0.08 |
0.9 | 0.7 | 5.46 ± 0.44 5.35 ± 0.68 |
0.7 | 0.6 | |
| SEA vs. healthy | SEA-affected horses healthy controls |
30 30 |
802 ± 284 775 ± 218 |
0.5 | 0.7 | 0.79 ± 0.07 0.80 ± 0.06 |
0.6 | 0.5 | 5.25 ± 0.70 5.31 ± 0.51 |
0.8 | 0.8 | |
| CH-SEA vs. healthy | CH-SEA-affected horses healthy controls |
10 10 |
873 ± 192 860 ± 237 |
1.0 | 0.9 | 0.79 ± 0.03 0.81 ± 0.02 |
0.3 | 0.2 | 5.35 ± 0.23 5.45 ± 0.32 |
0.5 | 0.6 | |
| Environment/ Management | type of stable | interior box exterior box open stable pasture only |
25 24 82 9 |
909 ± 274 730 ± 209 875 ± 231 630 ± 155 |
0.003 *** |
0.2 (decr.) |
0.77 ± 0.10 0.79 ± 0.07 0.81 ± 0.04 0.79 ± 0.03 |
0.1 | 0.3 (decr.) |
5.22 ± 0.82 5.17 ± 0.69 5.47 ± 0.39 5.08 ± 0.34 |
0.02 * |
0.4 (decr.) |
| access to pasture | 0-4 hours per day 4-12 hours per day >12 hours per day |
28 50 62 |
863 ± 272 880 ± 242 799 ± 228 |
0.2 | 0.05 * (decr.) |
0.80 ± 0.07 0.79 ± 0.08 0.81 ± 0.04 |
0.8 | 0.3 (incr.) |
5.35 ± 0.62 5.33 ± 0.65 5.36 ± 0.44 |
0.7 | 0.2 (decr.) |
|
| type of feeding | roughage only roughage dominating roughage and concentrate |
17 62 61 |
867 ± 263 872 ± 193 802 ± 280 |
0.1 | 0.04 * (decr.) |
0.80 ± 0.02 0.82 ± 0.04 0.78 ± 0.08 |
0.001 *** |
0.03 * (decr.) |
5.37 ± 0.32 5.53 ± 0.38 5.16 ± 0.69 |
0.003 *** |
0.02 * (decr.) |
|
| Signalment | type of breed | horse breed pony breed |
64 76 |
836 ± 273 844 ± 218 |
0.5 | – | 0.79 ± 0.07 0.81 ± 0.05 |
0.2 | – | 5.27 ± 0.64 5.42 ± 0.48 |
0.3 | – |
| gender | male female |
89 51 |
850 ± 261 823 ± 213 |
0.4 | – | 0.80 ± 0.07 0.80 ± 0.06 |
0.6 | – | 5.34 ± 0.61 5.37 ± 0.47 |
0.5 | – | |
The unpaired comparisons (1) were done by means of unpaired Wilcoxon rank-sum tests or Kruskal-Wallis tests. The combined comparisons (2) were done by means of paired Wilcoxon rank-sum tests (within the category “disease”) or Jonckheere’s trend tests (within the category “environment/management”). CH = Culicoides hypersensitivity, SEA = severe equine asthma. Levels of significance: * p ≤ 0.05 | ** p ≤ 0.01 | *** p ≤ 0.001.