Table 8. Trial 4 –Low-energy electron irradiation disinfection, breeding and necropsy results.
| Group | A: Contaminated, treated | B: Contaminated, untreated | C: Control | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Infertile eggs/early embryonic death [%] | 7.1 | 4.3 | 7.1 | |||
| Late embryonic death [%] | 1.4 | 2.9 | 0 | |||
| Hatchability [%] | 96 | 96 | 96 | |||
| Mortality [%] | 2.1 | 4.2 | 4.2 | |||
| Day 7 / 14 | Day 7 / 14 | Day 7 / 14 | ||||
| N | 24 | 23 | 23 | 23 | 23 | 23 |
| Mean body weight [g] | 161.9a** | 482.6 | 184.3a** | 498.6 | 164.6 | 455.1 |
| Mean relative liver weight [%] | 5.2 | 4.7a** | 5.4 | 4.5 | 5.4 | 3.9a** |
| Mean relative gut weight [%] | 10.6a** | 9.5b** | 10.8 | 9.4 | 9.5a** | 8.6b** |
| Macroscopy | ||||||
| Abnormal yolk sacs [n] | 9a** | 0 | 6 | 2 | 0a** | 0 |
| Abnormal kidneys [n] | 4 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 |
| Histology | ||||||
| Liver, extramedullary hematopoiesis [n] | 2 | 7 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 3 |
| Liver, lymphoid follicles [n] | 2 | 13 | 4 | 7 | 4 | 9 |
| Lung, lymphoid follicles [n] | 7 | 5 | 5 | 12 | 5 | 7 |
| Kidneys, lymphoid follicles [n] | 0a* | 3 | 2 | 1 | 4a* | 2 |
Statistical evaluation conducted only between group A to group B and C
a, b, c, d Superscripts within the row and time indicate significant differences
* indicates p ≤ 0.05 (significant)
** indicates p ≤ 0.01 (highly significant)