Table 1.

Number of observed features, Shannon diversity index, Faith’s phylogenetic diversity index, and species evenness observed in the ruminal samples of the adult cows, steers on weaning day, steers at beginning of feedlot phase (on-test), steers at end of feedlot phase (off-test), and upon arriving at the slaughterhouse (lairage).

Item	Cows	Steers Weaning	Steers On-Test	Steers Off-Test	Steers Lairage	Contrast 1	Contrast 2	Contrast 3	Contrast 4
Obs. Features	1545	1106	395	393	489	0.03	<0.001	0.96	0.12
Shannon Index	9.9	9.2	7.1	7.2	7.3	0.03	<0.001	0.83	0.64
Faith’s PD	84.3	66.3	37.8	40.1	45.4	0.001	<0.001	0.32	0.06
Evenness	0.937	0.912	0.837	0.843	0.824	0.12	<0.001	0.59	0.32

Contrast 1: p-value for the comparison cow vs. steers at weaning. Contrast 2: p-value for the comparison steers at weaning vs. steers at beginning of feedlot. Contrast 3: p-value for the comparison steers at beginning of feedlot vs. steers at the end of feedlot. Contrast 4: p-value for the comparison steers at end of feedlot vs. steers at the slaughterhouse (lairage).