Group | Dosage per chicken | Number of chickens | Design of animal experiment | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Experiment 1 | ||||||
 1 | PBS (pH 7.2) |  | 200 µL | 15 | Chickens were orally gavaged with PBS, LB(+) and LB(−) once a day from 11 to 20 days of age | |
 2 | L/LB(+) | 5.0 × 108 CFU | 200 µL | 15 | ||
 3 | M/LB(+) | 5.0 × 109 CFU | 15 | |||
 4 | H/LB(+) | 5.0 × 1010 CFU | 15 | |||
 5 | L/LB(−) | 5.0 × 108 CFU | 200 µL | 15 | ||
 6 | M/LB(−) | 5.0 × 109 CFU | 15 | |||
 7 | H/LB(−) | 5.0 × 1010 CFU | 15 | |||
Experiment 2 | ||||||
 1 | PBS (pH 7.2) |  | 200 µL | 15 | Chickens were gavaged with LB(+) once a day from 11 to 20 days of age, which was combined with EA from 16 to 20 days of age. All chickens except those in the PBS group were challenged with 50 000 E. tenella sporulated oocysts at 21 days of age | |
 2 | L/EA + L/LB(+) | 15.0 mg/kg + 5.0 × 108 CFU | 200 µL | 15 | ||
 3 | M/EA + M/LB(+) | 30.0 mg/kg + 5.0 × 109 CFU | 15 | |||
 4 | H/EA + H/LB(+) | 60.0 mg/kg + 5.0 × 1010 CFU | 15 | |||
 5 | Challenge control | / | / | 15 |