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 6 Effects of Clostridium butyricum on digestive enzyme activities in broilers¹

Items	Age of (day post-ch)²	Experimental treats				Statistics
Items	Age of (day post-ch)²	NC	PC	CB	CS	SEM	P-value
Amylase, U/mgprot	3d	0.94^a	0.33^c	0.70^b	0.74^ab	0.058	<0.01
	7d	0.96^a	0.45^b	0.88^a	0.83^a	0.054	<0.01
	14d	0.80^a	0.60^b	0.87^a	0.78^a	0.033	0.018
	21d	0.91^a	0.75^b	0.79^ab	0.85^ab	0.027	0.112
Protease, U/mgprot	3d	106.86^a	54.66^c	76.92^b	80.10^b	5.080	<0.01
	7d	103.76^a	65.29^b	93.32^a	89.39^a	4.213	<0.01
	14d	98.17^a	67.04^b	93.60^a	91.46^a	3.975	0.014
	21d	130.76	109.06	133.03	125.01	4.648	0.264
Lipase, U/mgprot	3d	190.87^ab	105.14^c	154.02^b	205.53^a	10.833	<0.01
	7d	193.84^a	105.66^b	186.09^a	155.90^ab	10.800	<0.01
	14d	183.76	167.93	205.40	195.76	7.046	0.278
	21d	194.07	177.85	197.87	203.41	5.697	0.448

^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

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