Table 3.

Jejunal and ileal morphology of weaning piglets¹.

Item	Diet treatments2				Days post-weaning			SEM		P-value
	Control		T1	T2	5	21		Diet	Day	Diet	Day	Diet × Day
Jejunum
Villus height, μm	375.31	393.77		392.16	337.64	436.52	10.44		8.52	0.394	<0.001	0.049
Crypt depth, μm	119.98	117.11		118.58	112.95	124.16	5.15		4.20	0.925	0.069	0.284
VCR	3.15	3.43		3.36	3.02	3.61	0.17		0.14	0.483	0.006	0.815
Goblet cells3	10.68ab	10.23b		11.17a	10.42	10.97∗	0.25		0.20	0.044	0.069	0.503
Lymphocyte cells3	38.98	38.7		39.62	39.73	38.47	0.58		0.47	0.528	0.069	0.626
Ileum
Villus height, μm	358.17	390.65		347.49	322.49	408.39∗	10.21		8.34	0.015	<0.001	0.020
Crypt depth, μm	118.32	117.98		106.56	101.34	127.23∗	3.48		2.84	0.037	<0.001	0.046
VCR	3.05	3.37		3.26	3.22	3.23	0.13		0.10	0.203	0.936	0.634
Goblet cells	10.53	10.82		10.72	10.53	10.84	0.32		0.26	0.816	0.403	0.455
Lymphocyte cells	40.12	40.67		39.65	40.03	40.26	0.38		0.31	0.189	0.619	0.483

^a-b Values with different letters within the same row are different (P < 0.05); ^∗ means the difference was significant when compared to d 5 post-weaning (P < 0.05); n = 6.

¹The results were presented as main effects, and the differences among treatments or days were evaluated using Tukey HSD test.

²T1 = Basal diet containing 1% L-Gln, 0.5% L-Glu, and 0.1% L-Asp; T2 = energy deficiency diet containing 1% L-Gln, 0.5% L-Glu, and 0.1% L-Asp; VCR = the ratio of villus height to crypt depth.

³The numbers of goblet cells and lymphocytes were averaged from 4 fields at 400-fold magnification.