Effects of dietary supplementation of probiotic, Clostridium butyricum, on growth performance, immune response, intestinal barrier function, and digestive enzyme activity in broiler chickens challenged with Escherichia coli K88

Table 2 Effects of Clostridium butyricum on growth performance in broilers¹

Items	Age of (post-ch)²	Experimental treats				Statistics
Items	Age of (post-ch)²	NC	PC	CB	CS	SEM	P-value
BW, g	3d	351.71^a	319.83^b	342.23^a	339.95^a	3.588	<0.01
	7d	401.16^a	354.00^b	402.71^a	398.81^a	4.479	<0.01
	14d	747.33^ab	649.00^c	774.83^a	738.16^b	11.161	<0.01
	21d	1283.5^a	1064.8^b	1265.8^a	1275.2^a	26.491	<0.01
ADG, g	3-7d	12.36^b	8.54^c	15.12^a	14.71^a	0.651	<0.01
	7-14d	49.45^a	42.14^b	53.16^a	48.47^a	1.117	<0.01
	14-21d	76.60	59.40	70.13	76.72	2.831	0.089
	3-21d	51.76^a	41.38^b	51.30^a	51.95^a	1.365	<0.01

^a-cMeans in the same row with different superscript letters differ significantly (P < 0.05)
¹Each mean represents 6 birds. NC = birds fed a basal diet without challenged with E. coli K88; PC = birds fed a basal diet and challenged with E. coli K88. CB = birds fed a basal diet including 2 × 10⁷ CFU C. butyricum/kg of diet and challenged with E. coli K88. CS = birds fed a basal diet including 20 mg colistin sulfate/kg of diet and challenged with E. coli K88
²The days after challenging

ISSN: 2049-1891