Table 3.

Growth performance of broilers fed diets supplementation with xylo-oligosaccharides (XOS),⁶⁰Co γ-ray–irradiated Astragalus polysaccharides (IAPS), and their combination from 1 to 21 d.

Treatments 1	ADFI (g/day·bird)	ADG (g/day·bird)	F/G (g/g)
Control	40.74	28.35b	1.41a
AGP	42.68	32.40a	1.32a,b
XOS	42.61	29.80a,b	1.43a
IAPS	41.02	29.59a,b	1.39a,b
XOS + IAPS	41.18	32.73a	1.26b
SEM	0.41	0.54	0.21
P value	0.40	0.03	0.03
Main effects
XOS
−	40.88	28.97	1.41
+	41.77	31.04	1.36
IAPS
−	41.68	29.08	1.43x
+	40.98	30.93	1.33y
P values
XOS	0.39	0.10	0.31
IAPS	0.50	0.14	0.03
XOS × IAPS	0.35	0.61	0.16

^a,bSuperscripts for means belong to 1-way ANOVA among 5 treatment groups.

^x,ySuperscripts for means belong to 2 × 2 factorial arrangement (XOS and IAPS), excluding the AGP group.

Means with no common superscripts within the column of each classification are significantly different (P ≤ 0.05).

Abbreviations: F/G, feed conversion ratio (feed: gain, g: g).

¹Control, basal diet; AGP, basal diet supplemented with 50 mg/kg chlortetracycline; XOS, basal diet supplemented with 100 mg/kg XOS; IAPS, basal diet supplemented with 600 mg/kg IAPS; XOS + IAPS, basal diet supplemented with 100 mg/kg XOS and 600 mg/kg IAPS.