Table 2.

Effect of eggshell temperature (EST) during late incubation [≥E17–E19.5; 37.8°C (control) or 36.7°C (lower)] and/or feeding strategy after hatch [immediate access to feed and water (early) or 51–54-h deprivation (delayed)] on necrotic lesions in the small intestine of broilers at d 6 or 7 post Eimeria inoculation (d 21 post hatch) to induce necrotic enteritis (mean ± SE).

	N a	NE severity (score 0–6)		NE incidencec (%)
		Day post Eimeria inoculationb
		6	7
EST
Control	16	3.8 ± 0.24	3.0 ± 0.16	82.9 ± 3.05
Lower	16	4.0 ± 0.23	2.8 ± 0.15	85.4 ± 2.87
Feeding strategy
Early	16	3.9 ± 0.22	2.9 ± 0.14	87.7 ± 2.65
Delayed	16	3.9 ± 0.25	2.8 ± 0.17	80.5 ± 3.24
EST × Feeding strategy
Control × Early	8	3.6 ± 0.34	2.9 ± 0.20	84.2 ± 4.18
Control × Delayed	8	4.0 ± 0.33	3.0 ± 0.25	81.6 ± 4.45
Lower × Early	8	4.2 ± 0.28	2.9 ± 0.20	91.0 ± 3.24
Lower × Delayed	8	3.8 ± 0.37	2.6 ± 0.23	79.5 ± 4.73
P -values
EST		0.91	0.46	0.51
Feeding strategy		0.87	0.43	0.14
EST × Feeding strategy		0.50	0.31	0.31
Sex		0.26	0.09	0.83

^aNumber of pens.

^bFive broilers per pen per day.

^cBroilers with lesion scores of 2 or more were classified as NE positive.