Table 2.

The effect of dietary EF on the alpha diversity index of broiler breeders with different egg-laying rates.¹

Item		Observed species	Shannon	Chao1	ACE
Laying	EF
AP	−	1,484.00	7.68	1,846.42	1,698.50
AP	+	1,445.33	7.68	1,604.67	1,622.70
LP	−	1,197.17	7.41	1,337.46	1,365.53
LP	+	1,278.67	7.43	1,434.57	1,467.82
SEM		79.31	0.09	154.96	102.10
P-value		0.05	0.05	0.14	0.12
P-value
Laying		0.01	0.01	0.04	0.03
EF		0.79	0.90	0.65	0.90
Laying∗EF		0.46	0.91	0.29	0.39

^a-bMeans with different superscripts within a column differ significantly (P ≤ 0.05).

Abbreviations: AP, average egg-laying rate; EF, 6 × 10⁸ cfu/kg Enterococcus faecium; LP, low egg-laying rate.

¹Each mean represents 8 replicates, with 1 layer/replicate.