Table 5.

Intestinal histomorphology of pigs challenged with E. coli F18⁺ (CH) on d 13 postweaning and fed diets supplemented with multispecies probiotics (PRO).

Item	CH-		CH+		SEM	P-value
	PRO-	PRO+	PRO-	PRO+		CH	PRO	CH × PRO
Jejunum
Villus height, μm	452.6a	411.6ab	376.5b	416.5ab	19.9	0.048	0.978	0.027
Villus width, μm	120.9	111.8	110.5	111.3	4.1	0.139	0.261	0.176
Crypt depth, μm	232.5	248.3	213.8	228.8	8.6	0.010	0.032	0.954
VH:CD ratio	1.95a	1.66b	1.77ab	1.82ab	0.07	0.908	0.087	0.015
Ileum
Villus height, μm	285.2	319.4	318.6	331.2	28.9	0.316	0.299	0.630
Villus width, μm	91.7	97.2	91.4	103.3	7.91	0.600	0.123	0.562
Crypt depth, μm	237.9	244.6	258.6	290.2	18.25	0.019	0.160	0.353
VH:CD ratio	1.18	1.31	1.22	1.15	0.06	0.257	0.611	0.091

VH:CD ratio = villus height-to-crypt depth ratio.

^{a, b} Within a row, means without a common superscript letter differ (P < 0.05).