Table 2.

Acute-phase protein concentrations (μg/mL) in plasma of lactating heat-stressed cows fed different doses of an Aspergillus oryzae (AO) postbiotic. Data are least squares means (LSM) ± SEM. CTL control treatment, HP haptoglobin, LBP LPS binding protein, SAA serum amyloid A. ^a,bSuperscripts denote AO dose differences among LSM (0.05 < P ≤ 0.10). CTL vs. AO denotes contrast between CTL and AO postbiotic.

Item	Day	AO dose, g/day			SEM	P-value	Polynomial contrasts (P-value)
		0	3	6		CTL vs. AO	Linear	Quadratic
HP	2	3.46	1.61	2.71	1.58	0.529	0.764	0.457
	26	11.2	7.44	14.1	2.62	0.812	0.487	0.101
LBP	2	5.11a	3.79b	4.68ab	0.39	0.089	0.524	0.030
	26	5.66a	4.30b	6.01a	0.61	0.543	0.589	0.052
SAA	2	46.2	27.4	34.3	6.36	0.066	0.230	0.110
	26	69.1a	23.9b	51.2ab	10.7	0.026	0.275	0.011