Table 4.

Effect of AFEX wheat straw diet and a recombinant fibrolytic enzyme on α-diversity indices of bacterial communities in the rumen of wethers (n = 8 per treatment)

	Control		AFEX1			P-value
Item	Enz− 2	Enz+ 3	Enz−	Enz+	SEM	Diet	Enz4	Diet × Enz
Observed OTUs	286	239	249	285	23.3	0.77	0.76	0.23
Shannon	7.47	7.18	7.22	7.43	0.172	0.98	0.76	0.38
Evenness	0.912	0.925	0.909	0.916	0.0066	0.05	<0.01	0.21
Faith	33.5	31.2	31.6	33.4	1.88	0.90	0.83	0.62

¹AFEX = ammonia fiber expansion treatment (30% AFEX straw pellets on a dietary DM basis replacing alfalfa hay pellets).

²Enz− = diet without enzyme.

³Enz+ = diet with enzyme.

⁴Enz = recombinant fibrolytic enzyme treatment effect (XYL10C, a β-1,4-xylanase, EC 3.2.1.8, GH10 from Aspergillus niger).