Table 5.
Effect of dietary coated essential oil and organic mixture supplementation on jejunal morphology and goblet cell numbers of broiler chickens challenged with Escherichia coli O78.
| Item | E. coli1 | Villous height, μm | Crypt depth, μm | VH:CD ratio | GC cells |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| EOA, mg/kg | |||||
| 0 | - | 439.66 | 61.93 | 7.07 | 23.57a |
| 0 | + | 377.68 | 79.94 | 4.92 | 19.30b |
| 500 | - | 507.07 | 59.00 | 8.66 | 23.03ab |
| 500 | + | 491.23 | 67.72 | 7.62 | 26.30a |
| SEM | 20.36 | 4.19 | 0.35 | 0.81 | |
| Main effect | |||||
| 0 | 408.67b | 70.94 | 5.99b | 21.43 | |
| 500 | 499.15a | 63.36 | 8.14a | 24.67 | |
| Non-challenge | 473.37 | 60.47 | 7.86a | 23.30 | |
| Challenge | 434.46 | 73.83 | 6.27b | 22.80 | |
| P-value2 | |||||
| EOA | 0.025 | 0.368 | <0.001 | 0.024 | |
| Challenged | 0.308 | 0.120 | 0.001 | 0.711 | |
| EOA × Challenged | 0.542 | 0.578 | 0.181 | 0.010 |
EOA = coated essential oil and organic mixture; VH:CD ratio = the villus height to crypt depth ratio; GC cells = goblet cell numbers per mm2; SEM = standard error of the mean.
a, b Means within the same column with different superscripts differ significantly (P < 0.05).
“–”, without E. coli O78 challenge; “+”, with E. coli O78 challenge.
P-values represent the main effect of the diet, the main effect of E. coli O78 challenge, and the interaction between the dietary treatments and E. coli O78 challenge.