. 2022 Mar 28;9(4):164. doi: 10.3390/vetsci9040164

Table 3.

Fecal characteristics of dogs fed the basic diets supplemented with different levels and particle sizes of MBM (mean ± SD).

Parameters	Particle Size						p-Value
	Coarse			Fine			p-Value
	Level						Particle Size	Level	Particle Size × Level
	MBMc6	MBMc12	MBMc24	MBMf6	MBMf12	MBMf24	Particle Size	Level	Particle Size × Level
Defecation frequency (n/d)	2.60 ± 0.34	2.97 ± 0.57	3.20 ± 0.34	2.73 ± 0.70	2.53 ± 0.58	3.37 ± 0.95	0.8407	0.0904	0.1458
Amount of feces (g DM/d)	67.4 ^b ± 8.06	73.7 ^b ± 4.40	81.5 ^a ± 5.78	70.4 ^b ± 5.28	73.5 ^b ± 13.2	87.4 ^a ± 4.05	0.0800	0.0333	0.0192
Fecal score (1–5)	2.61 ^a ± 0.19	2.21 ^b ± 0.12	1.82 ^c ± 0.23	2.56 ^a ± 0.22	2.37 ^b ± 0.17	1.90 ^c ± 0.22	0.5985	<0.0001	<0.0001
DM content (%)	31.8 ^b ± 2.04	34.4 ^a ± 1.28	35.4 ^a ± 1.98	32.0 ^b ± 1.60	33.8 ^ab ± 1.76	36.2 ^a ± 2.10	0.8778	0.0005	0.0011
pH value	7.21 ^b ± 0.62	7.17 ^b ± 0.22	7.30 ^a ± 0.14	7.03 ^b ± 0.10	7.18 ^b ± 0.18	7.47 ^a ± 0.12	0.9863	0.0001	0.0003

MBM = Meat and bone meal, c = coarse, f = fine. ^a,b,c Means in a row with different superscripts differ significantly (p < 0.05). Fecal scores were recorded using a five-point scale (1 = very hard to 5 = watery diarrhea).