Table 3. Alpha diversity indices on preoperative and postoperative days¹⁾

Treatments	Observed ASV	Chao1 estimate	Shannon’s diversity	Simpson’s diversity
Preoperative day²⁾
Control (n = 4)	2,027	2,125	9.320	0.992
Cannulation (n = 4)	1749	1,839	9.082	0.993
SEM	79.196	83.656	0.130	0.001
p-value	0.073	0.084	0.400	0.808
Postoperative days³⁾
Control (n = 36)	1,593^a	1,645^a	9.284^a	0.995^a
Cannulation (n = 36)	1,346^b	1,389^b	8.846^b	0.993^b
SEM	38.545	41.066	0.059	0
p-value	0.005	0.006	0.016	0.024

Good’s coverage of all samples is over 99.4%.
Eight rumen samples were collected from eight steers on the preoperative day (day 0) (4 animals × 2 groups × 1 timepoint).
Seventy-two rumen samples were collected from eight steers on postoperative days 1, 4, 7, 10, 14, 17, 21, 24, and 28 (4 animals × 2 groups × 9 timepoints).
Means with significant differences (p < 0.05).
ASV, amplicon sequence variant.