Table 5. Fibers ratio, cross sectional areas and density of slow, intermediate and fast muscle fibers in the Longissimus thoracis muscle stained with the ATPase technique.
| Items | Treatments1) | SEM | p-value | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Control | FA300 | FA600 | ZH | |||
| Fiber type ratios (%) | ||||||
| Slow | 12.34 | 9.19 | 10.72 | 12.23 | 1.67 | 0.523 |
| Intermediate | 36.53 | 41.52 | 33.65 | 37.84 | 7.66 | 0.906 |
| Fast | 51.11 | 49.28 | 55.62 | 49.91 | 6.96 | 0.915 |
| CSA2 (µm2) | ||||||
| Slow | 2,349 | 2,448.3 | 2,303.8 | 3,234.4 | 306.4 | 0.169 |
| Intermediate | 1,477.0 | 1,526.0 | 1,512.5 | 2,377.8 | 332.7 | 0.223 |
| Fast | 1,760.8a | 1,748.8a | 1,350.5a | 2,362.1b | 255.9 | 0.049 |
| Fiber density (fibers/50,000 µm2) | 23.14 | 17.77 | 26.02 | 20.15 | 2.67 | 0.207 |
1)
Basal diet without additive (Control); basal diet plus 300 mg of FA d−1 (FA300); basal diet plus 600 mg of FA d−1 (FA600); basal diet plus zilpaterol hydrochloride at 6 mg d−1 (ZH). n = 4.
a,b
Means with different superscripts in same row, indicate significant differences (p < 0.05).
FA, ferulic acid; ZH, zilpaterol hydrochloride; CSA, cross sectional area.