Table 5. Effects of supplemental different minerals on ileal morphology in broiler chickens under cyclic heat stress

Items (µm) NC PC ILT ZLT OC SE p-value
Villus height (VH) 943.8a 851.8b 896.0ab 904.9ab 872.2ab 19.7 0.032
Crypt depth (CD) 119.9 139.5 122.4 122.2 123.2 8.3 0.464
VH : CD 7.9 6.1 7.3 7.4 7.1 0.5 0.134
Means within column with different superscripts differ significantly (p < 0.05).
NC, basal diet; PC, NC and start of heat stress at the 2nd week; ILT, PC + 1% of illite; ZLT, PC + 1% of zeolite; OC, PC + 400 ppb of organic chromium.
SE, standard error.