Table 6.
Differences in microbial functions within the cecal digesta of broilers based on Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes functional categories.
| Item | Relative Abundance (%) | SEM | p Value | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NC 1 | PC | FP | NC vs. PC | PC vs. FP | FP vs. NC | ||
| Membrane transport | 3.94 | 3.71 | 3.79 | 0.845 | 0.918 | 0.972 | 0.946 |
| Nucleotide metabolism | 3.27 | 3.31 | 3.34 | 0.093 | 0.880 | 0.879 | 0.788 |
| Cell motility | 1.66 | 1.65 | 1.59 | 0.023 | 0.948 | 0.369 | 0.256 |
| Signal transduction | 1.23 | 1.39 | 1.28 | 0.402 | 0.872 | 0.916 | 0.955 |
| Translation | 1.07 | 1.03 | 1.09 | 0.187 | 0.901 | 0.890 | 0.989 |
| Energy metabolism | 1.06 | 1.15 | 1.12 | 0.097 | 0.738 | 0.914 | 0.811 |
| Amino acid metabolism | 0.98 | 1.17 | 1.08 | 0.062 | 0.225 | 0.562 | 0.533 |
| Carbohydrate metabolism | 0.83 | 0.72 | 0.80 | 0.045 | 0.315 | 0.471 | 0.781 |
| Replication and repair | 0.78 | 0.75 | 0.74 | 0.073 | 0.864 | 0.978 | 0.842 |
| Metabolism of cofactors and vitamins | 0.53 | 0.48 | 0.51 | 0.036 | 0.575 | 0.718 | 0.822 |
| Folding, sorting and degradation | 0.47 | 0.43 | 0.46 | 0.053 | 0.751 | 0.793 | 0.949 |
| Cell growth and death | 0.46 | 0.47 | 0.46 | 0.124 | 0.970 | 0.970 | 1.000 |
| Glycan biosynthesis and metabolism | 0.26 | 0.21 | 0.23 | 0.058 | 0.738 | 0.857 | 0.873 |
| Metabolism of other amino acids | 0.25 | 0.25 | 0.25 | 0.023 | 0.995 | 0.951 | 0.947 |
| Environmental adaptation | 0.24 | 0.25 | 0.23 | 0.004 | 0.167 | 0.082 | 0.228 |
| Lipid metabolism | 0.18 | 0.15 | 0.16 | 0.020 | 0.661 | 0.887 | 0.766 |
| Cellular community—prokaryotes | 0.16 | 0.19 | 0.17 | 0.005 | 0.006 | 0.050 | 0.670 |
| Xenobiotics biodegradation and metabolism | 0.14 | 0.16 | 0.15 | 0.012 | 0.513 | 0.694 | 0.792 |
| Infectious diseases: Bacterial | 0.14 | 0.14 | 0.14 | 0.013 | 0.936 | 0.953 | 0.880 |
| Metabolism of terpenoids and polyketides | 0.12 | 0.11 | 0.11 | 0.018 | 0.828 | 0.912 | 0.912 |
| Transcription | 0.09 | 0.07 | 0.07 | 0.017 | 0.663 | 0.871 | 0.781 |
| Endocrine system | 0.05 | 0.04 | 0.04 | 0.072 | 0.571 | 0.889 | 0.665 |
| Transport and catabolism | 0.05 | 0.04 | 0.04 | 0.009 | 0.780 | 0.985 | 0.786 |
| Biosynthesis of other secondary metabolites | 0.04 | 0.03 | 0.04 | 0.004 | 0.609 | 0.720 | 0.889 |
| Endocrine and metabolic diseases | 0.03 | 0.03 | 0.03 | 0.002 | 0.858 | 0.573 | 0.626 |
1 NC = Basal diet; PC = Basal diet in combination with the coccidial challenge; FP = Basal diet plus 1 g/kg of B. licheniformis-fermented products in combination with the coccidial challenge.