Table 4.

Effects of phytosterol supplementation on phylum level taxonomic compositon of the cecal microbiota in yellow-feather broilers.

Item	Treatment			SEM	Day			SEM	P-value
	Con	Anti	Phyto		21 D	42 D	63 D		Trt	Day	Trt∗Day
Firmicutes	43.41	36.39	29.69	3.929	40.21	31.63	37.65	3.649	0.065	0.17	0.083
Bacteroidetes	51.28a	59.26a,b	66.73b	4.064	54.97	64.00	58.30	4.63	0.042	0.21	0.15
Proteobacteria	2.28	1.01	0.67	0.931	3.36	0.23	0.36	1.61	0.45	0.099	0.79
Actinobacteria	0.54	1.78	1.28	0.97	0.38	1.27	1.96	0.82	0.68	0.19	0.37
Melainabacteria	1.03	0.04	0.004	1.36	0.0013	1.01	0.065	0.059	0.84	0.09	0.66
Tenericutes	0.84	0.86	1.04	0.469	0.092	1.57a	1.08a,b	0.602b	0.94	0.011	0.06
Verrucomicrobia	0.008	0.26	1.62E-6	0.151	0.0013	0.0018	0.271	0.261	0.39	0.57	0.26
Acidobacteria	0.06	0.04	1.52E-7	0.031	0.021	0.012	0.071	0.019	0.36	0.51	0.48
unidentified_Bacteria	0.37	0.18	0.55	0.273	0.81	0.15	0.14	0.473	0.63	0.40	0.62
Others	0.11a	0.12a	0.035b	0.023	0.11	0.05	0.11	0.031	0.017	0.17	0.45
Fermicutes:Bacteroidetes	0.77	0.76	0.55	0.154	0.83	0.56	0.68	0.087	0.47	0.22	0.55

^a,bValues (sharing the same SEM) within the same row with no common superscript letters differ (P < 0.05).

Abbreviations: Con, control group with basal diet; Anti, basal diet supplemented with 200 mg/kg oxytetracycline calcium and 250 mg/kg nosiheptide (Anti); Phyto, basal diet supplemented with 25 mg/kg phytosterols; Trt, treatment.