Fig. 1

Intestinal injury examination and liver C. perfringens number of broiler chickens. a: Gross lesion score of the small intestine. b and c: Histopathological injury score and representative histopathological pictures of the jejunum. The jejunal cross-sections were hematoxylin and eosin-stained. Original magnification is 200×. d: Number of C. perfringens in the liver. CON group, received a basal diet; ARG group, fed a basal diet supplemented with 3 g/kg arginine; CON+CP group, received a basal diet and underwent C. perfringens challenge; ARG + CP group, given a basal diet supplemented with 3 g/kg arginine and underwent C. perfringens challenge. The results are expressed as means ± SEM (n = 8). Different letters indicate significant differences for the interaction effect (P ≤ 0.05)