2.7 | Statistical analyses
All the data for enzymes activities and intestinal morphology were
tested for normality and homogeneity of variances by using Shapiro-Wilk
and Levene’s tests, respectively. Afterwards, one-way analysis of
variance (ANOVA) was used to test for statistical differences on the
data for enzymes activities and intestinal morphology among the four
feeding habits. Tukey multiple comparisons test was used to compare for
significant differences among the four feeding habits when ANOVA
indicated statistical differences. The analysis of enzymes activities
and intestinal morphology data was conducted by using SPSS 20.0 (SPSS,
Inc., Chicago, IL, USA). Results with P ≤ 0.05 were considered
significant different. The results obtained are expressed as mean ±
standard error of the mean (SEM).
The differences in bacterial phylotype distribution was assessed by
using principal component analysis (PCA). The alpha-diversity indices
(the abundance coverage-based Estimator - ACE, Chao1, Shannon and
Simpson indices) were generated by using Mothur v1.31.2
(http://www.mothur.org/wiki/Calculators). Abundance of microbiota was
analyzed by using ACE and Chao1 indices while microbiota species
diversity was assessed by using Shannon and Simpson indices. Linear
discriminant analysis effect size (LEfSe) was analyzed by using the R
statistical package (v3.1.1).