Figure 5.

Effects of dietary steam-exploded pine particles supplementation to the chickens kept at either thermoneutral or heat stress on the composition of cecum microflora at Phylum level. The treatments were control diet containing 0% steam-exploded pine particles (SPP) at thermoneutral temperature (0% NT), control diet with acute heat stress (0% HS), 1% SPP-supplemented diet at acute heat stress (1% HS), and 2% SPP-supplemented diet at acute heat stress (2% HS). The thermoneutral birds were maintained at 21.0 °C while the temperature of the heat-stressed room was raised to 31 °C within the first three hours and then maintained for another three hours that makes the total HS period of six hours.