. 2020 Mar 6;99(5):2519–2532. doi: 10.1016/j.psj.2019.11.069

Table 2.

Performance, relative weight, and length of gastrointestinal tract of broilers.

Item	CON¹		MA¹	MAR¹	MAL¹	SEM	P value
Body weight, g
day 21	723		742	787	728	24.8	0.262
day 28	1,244		1,198	1,225	1,137	32.3	0.117
day 35	1,802^b		1,697^a,b	1,717^a,b	1,613^a	39.2	0.016
Body weight gain, g
day 21–28	74.5^b		65.2^a	62.6^a	58.5^a	1.83	<0.001
day 28–35	93.0^b		83.2^a	82.0^a	79.3^a	2.25	<0.001
day 21–35	83.8^b		74.2^a	72.3^a	68.9^a	1.83	<0.001
Feed intake, g
day 21–28	107		105	107	97.9	3.09	0.126
day 28–35	141		138	138	132	3.3	0.342
day 21–35	124		121	122	115	3.0	0.191
Feed conversion ratio
day 21–28	1.44^a		1.60^b	1.71^c	1.68^b,c	0.022	<0.001
day 28–35	1.51^a		1.66^b	1.68^b	1.67^b	0.021	<0.001
day 21–35	1.48^a		1.63^b	1.70^b	1.67^b	0.017	<0.001
Relative weight of GI tract, g/kg BW
Crop		2.62	2.91	2.98	2.53	0.221	0.418
Gizzard		12.2	14.3	13.1	14.2	0.61	0.061
Liver		21.8	23.7	22.4	23.5	0.90	0.422
Pancreas		2.30	2.38	2.25	2.37	0.126	0.870
Duodenum		4.77	5.06	5.33	4.82	0.223	0.283
Jejunum		9.45	9.57	9.26	9.03	0.354	0.722
Ileum		8.29^a,b	8.19^a,b	7.39^a	8.52^b	0.281	0.042
Caecum³		3.74	3.79	4.68	3.63	0.361	0.164
Relative length of GI tract, cm/kg BW
Duodenum		13.1^a	15.7^b	15.5^b	14.8^b	0.52	0.006
Jejunum		33.6^a	37.8^b	37.0^a,b	37.8^a,b	1.10	0.034
Ileum		37.2	38.7	38.8	40.7	1.15	0.224
Caecum		8.08	8.44	8.12	8.02	0.329	0.812
Content viscosity, cP
Duodenum + jejunum		4.84^a	7.08^a,b	7.32^a,b	9.20^b	1.071	0.039
Ileum		9.19	10.8	11.8	10.8	0.962	0.306

^a-cDifferent superscript lowercase letters within a row indicate a significant difference (P < 0.05).

Abbreviation: GI, gastrointestinal tract.

CON: corn/soybean, in the control group; MA: 15% Spirulina; MAR: 15% Spirulina + 0.005% Robavio Excel AP; MAL: 15% Spirulina + 0.01% lysozyme.

Caecum: weight of 2 caecum.