Table 6.

Effects of the diets with different protein sources without and with Bacillus subtilis ATCC 6051a (BS) on tibia bone development and mineralization (mean values¹) of broilers (day 42).

Items	Protein source	Probiotic inclusion2	Tibia, weight4	Tibia, length4	Ash, %	Minerals content
						Ca, mg/g	P, mg/g	Fe, μg/g	Zn, μg/g	Ca: P Ratio
1	SBM	No	0.63	0.46	57.01	319.89	167.41	174.42	346.37	1.91
2	CWP	No	0.64	0.47	58.20	319.36	158.80	195.45	333.88	2.01
3	SBM	Yes	0.68	0.46	58.63	316.66	167.98	131.62	347.40	1.89
4	CWP	Yes	0.62	0.46	58.01	325.73	183.88	144.70	319.81	1.77
SEM			0.02	0.01	0.42	2.76	3.25	13.80	5.59	0.03
Main effects3
Protein source (Ps)
SBM			0.65	0.46	57.82	318.28	167.70	153.02	346.88	1.90
CWP			0.63	0.47	58.11	322.55	171.34	170.08	326.85	1.89
Probiotic (BS)
No			0.64	0.46	57.61	319.63	163.10b	184.93	340.13	1.96a
Yes			0.65	0.46	58.32	321.20	175.93a	138.16	333.60	1.83b
P-value
Ps effect			0.401	0.953	0.762	0.500	0.405	0.395	0.092T	0.866
BS effect			0.744	0.900	0.451	0.802	0.015	0.123	0.551	0.009
Ps x BS effect			0.361	0.921	0.345	0.969	0.018	0.887	0.492	0.026

^a,bMeans with different superscripts in a row differ significantly (P < 0.05). T = tendency to be influenced by treatment.

Abbreviations: CWP, cowpea; SBM, soybean meal; SIL, small intestine length; SIW, small intestine weight.

¹Data are means of 6 birds per treatment.

²Bacillus subtilis, ATCC 6051a strain: 5.0 × 10¹¹ CFU/g⁻¹ feed.

³Data were analyzed as a 2 × 2 factorial arrangement.

⁴Calculated as weight or length (g or cm) of bone as 100 g of carcass weight.