Housing arrangements
|
No. of chickens (score a, liver/body weight ratio b)
|
---|
Cage-free (Inoculated)
|
1(1, 23.16)
|
2(4, 40.92)
|
3(2, 23.44)
|
4(2, 32.19)
|
5(4, 37.98)
|
6(3, 33.25)
|
7(2, 24.01)
|
8(4, 36.78)
|
9(2, 23.48)
|
Caged (Inoculated)
|
10(0, 24.84)
|
11(4, 36.47)
|
12(1, 23.39)
|
13(0, 22.08)
|
14(4, 35.88)
|
15(0, 24.12)
|
16(2, 23.98)
|
17 (1, 22.68)
|
18(4, 38.11)
|
Cage-free (Negative)
|
19(0, 23.98)
|
20(0, 24.12)
|
21(1, 22.65)
|
22(0, 23.65)
|
23(1, 24.09)
|
24(0, 23.51)
|
25(0, 22.98)
|
26(1, 23.65)
|
27(0, 24.01)
|
Caged (Negative)
|
28(1, 22.99)
|
29(0, 25.01)
|
30(0, 23.98)
|
31(0, 24.19)
|
32(1, 24.67)
|
33(2, 24.88)
|
34(0, 22.87)
|
35(1, 23.13)
|
36(0, 24..35)
|
-
a Liver lesion scores ranged from 0 to 4 (0, no lesions; 1, <5 foci; 2, 5 to 8 foci; 3,9 to 15 foci; 4,>15 foci)
-
b Liver to body weight ratio was calculated by (liver weight)/(body weight) × 100
- The liver of each chicken was weighed and the liver/body weight ratios were calculated. Compared with the uninfected chickens, the mean ratios from the 6 inoculated chickens (bold) and 2 contact-infected chickens (Nos.4 and 6) were significantly higher(P < 0.05)