Table 4.
Effect of wheat bran and Clostridium butyricum (C. butyricum) supplementation on cecal histological and physicochemical characteristics in broiler chickens at 37 days of age 1.
| Dietary Treatments | Cecal Crypt Depth 2 | Cecal pH | Acetate 3 | Propionate 3 | Butyrate 3 | Valerate 3 | Total SCFA 3 | Acetate/Butyrate Ratio | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Control | 65.5 | 6.58 | 38.9 | 8.90 | 11.6 | 1.03 | 61.5 | 3.71 | |
| C. butyricum | 74.4 | 6.57 | 41.1 | 8.07 | 12.8 | 1.06 | 64.0 | 3.37 | |
| Wheat bran | 93.7 | 6.50 | 45.1 | 9.93 | 10.3 | 1.03 | 67.4 | 4.23 | |
| SYN | 95.5 | 6.52 | 37.5 | 6.58 | 11.1 | 0.95 | 57.0 | 3.65 | |
| Wheat bran | |||||||||
| No | 69.7 b | 6.58 | 40.0 | 8.49 | 12.2 | 1.04 | 62.8 | 3.54 | |
| Yes | 94.6 a | 6.51 | 41.9 | 8.49 | 10.6 | 0.99 | 62.9 | 3.96 | |
| C. butyricum | |||||||||
| No | 79.7 | 6.54 | 42.2 | 9.45 | 10.9 | 1.03 | 64.7 | 3.97 | |
| Yes | 85.7 | 6.55 | 39.5 | 7.39 | 12.0 | 1.01 | 60.8 | 3.50 | |
| Pooled SEM | 3.9 | 0.05 | 2.2 | 0.55 | 1.0 | 0.07 | 3.3 | 0.19 | |
| p-Values | |||||||||
| Wheat bran | 0.001 | 0.535 | 0.778 | 0.830 | 0.464 | 0.701 | 0.306 | 0.325 | |
| C. butyricum | 0.428 | 0.960 | 0.566 | 0.063 | 0.616 | 0.872 | 0.856 | 0.255 | |
| Wheat bran x C. butyricum | 0.280 | 0.883 | 0.294 | 0.251 | 0.915 | 0.720 | 0.353 | 0.768 | |
1 SYN—C. butyricum and wheat bran supplemented group. 2 µm. 3 µmol/g. a,b means that those in the same row with no common superscripts are significantly different.