. 2022 Aug 4;101(11):102108. doi: 10.1016/j.psj.2022.102108

Table 5.

Effects of graded levels of dietary beta-sitosterol supplementation on the small intestinal morphology of broiler chickens.

Items	Beta-sitosterol level (mg/kg)					SEM¹	P-values
Items	0	25	50	75	100	SEM¹	ANOVA²	Linear	Quadratic
14 d
Duodenum
Villus height (μm)	1238.49^b	1437.91^a	1318.52^ab	1400.96^a	1393.66^a	21.75	0.018	0.048	0.186
Crypt depth (μm)	143.06	155.65	138.16	145.37	134.00	4.11	0.553	0.346	0.513
Villus height: crypt depth (μm)	9.26	10.13	9.88	10.29	11.05	0.31	0.507	0.106	0.867
Jejunum
Villus height (μm)	589.56^c	777.61^ab	819.31^a	668.47^bc	687.12^bc	22.88	0.005	0.517	0.002
Crypt depth (μm)	141.70	150.39	141.35	134.88	133.95	4.14	0.755	0.317	0.647
Villus height: crypt depth (μm)	4.36^b	5.41^a	6.09^a	5.33^a	5.30^a	0.17	0.015	0.082	0.005
Ileum
Villus height (μm)	578.42	548.35	615.42	559.69	550.60	14.49	0.596	0.676	0.520
Crypt depth (μm)	105.14	104.66	119.91	115.75	110.78	3.37	0.568	0.365	0.332
Villus height: crypt depth (μm)	5.68	5.50	5.40	5.02	5.23	0.15	0.724	0.227	0.704
21 d
Duodenum
Villus height (μm)	1644.71	1597.79	1606.42	1588.00	1637.08	22.13	0.922	0.881	0.408
Crypt depth (μm)	131.99	145.12	156.72	131.64	145.27	3.53	0.120	0.581	0.209
Villus height: crypt depth (μm)	12.92	11.96	10.65	12.47	11.91	0.35	0.342	0.543	0.192
Jejunum
Villus height (μm)	1049.57	1025.07	1173.72	1247.37	1265.89	36.16	0.100	0.011	0.969
Crypt depth (μm)	178.20^a	146.92^bc	129.71^c	160.79^ab	134.47^c	4.72	0.002	0.008	0.067
Villus height: crypt depth (μm)	6.31^c	7.21^bc	9.65^a	8.21^b	9.87^a	0.32	<0.001	<0.001	0.182
Ileum
Villus height (μm)	651.45^b	656.28^b	931.07^a	758.14^b	712.15^b	25.47	<0.001	0.096	0.001
Crypt depth (μm)	139.77^b	118.73^b	174.25^a	136.04^b	124.06^b	5.08	0.001	0.610	0.028
Villus height: crypt depth (μm)	4.88^b	5.75^a	5.54^ab	5.98^a	6.12^a	0.14	0.032	0.005	0.436

^a-c

Means within a row with different superscripts are different at P < 0.05.

SEM, standard error of the mean (n = 6).

ANOVA, analysis of variance.