Table 4.

Effect of AOAE on relative weight of immune organs in broilers challenged with LPS.

Items	Treatments					P-value
	CON	LPS	AOAE-L	AOAE-M	AOAE-H
28 d
Spleen index	0.93 ± 0.13c	1.60 ± 0.21a	1.39 ± 0.22b	1.09 ± 0.16c	0.96 ± 0.13c	<0.0001
Thymus index	2.19 ± 0.33	2.52 ± 0.39	2.33 ± 0.30	2.29 ± 0.30	2.27 ± 0.26	0.4965
Bursa index	2.67 ± 0.37a	1.73 ± 0.30c	1.86 ± 0.13c	2.25 ± 0.26b	2.60 ± 0.45ab	<0.0001
42 d
Spleen index	1.07 ± 0.12b	1.28 ± 0.13a	1.18 ± 0.12ab	1.11 ± 0.11b	1.05 ± 0.11b	0.0135
Thymus index	2.42 ± 0.44	2.39 ± 0.41	2.44 ± 0.30	2.39 ± 0.39	2.38 ± 0.31	0.9983
Bursa index	1.81 ± 0.21	1.80 ± 0.16	1.83 ± 0.17	1.84 ± 0.27	1.83 ± 0.25	0.9973

1) Index = organ weight (g)/body weight (kg).

2) AOAE, Artemisia ordosica alcohol extract; CON, non-challenged broilers fed a basal diet; LPS, lipopolysaccharide-challenged broilers fed a basal diet; AOAE-L, lipopolysaccharide-challenged broilers fed a basal diet supplemented with 500 mg/kg AOAE; AOAE-M, lipopolysaccharide-challenged broilers fed a basal diet supplemented with 750 mg/kg AOAE; AOAE-H, lipopolysaccharide-challenged broilers fed a basal diet supplemented with 1,000 mg/kg AOAE.

3) Each value is shown as mean ± SD (n = 6); Different superscript letters (a, b, and c) within the same row indicate significant difference between experimental groups (P < 0.05).