Fig. 3

Pyrosequencing analysis of cecal microbiota of goats fed LC or HC diets for 10 weeks. a Rarefaction curves in the LC and HC groups. b Diversity indexes in the LC and HC groups (n = 5, mean ± SEM). OTU, operational taxonomic unit; ACE, abundance-based coverage estimator; Asterisks indicate the level of statistically significant difference: *P < 0.05; **P < 0.01. c Principal coordinate analysis (PcoA) based on the relative abundance of OTUs at a 97% similarity level in the LC or HC groups. PC1, principal coordinate 1; PC2, principal coordinate 2. LC, low concentration diet; HC high concentration diet