Search

Alpha Diversity Overall, there was no significant effect of treatment or time on alpha diversity indices over the treatment interval in the studied population of healthy horses. Blood was drawn from each horse for complete blood count and serum chemistry analysis before treatment and at the end of the treatment period. The small number of horses and inclusion of several treatment groups with known interindividual variability of gut microbiota could have increased type II error and decreased statistical power preventing us from identifying further differences between treatment groups [[46]]. In horses, administration of antimicrobial drugs modifies the fecal microbiota of healthy horses shortly after initiation of therapy, but fecal microbiota returns to pre-treatment profile approximately 25 days after cessation of antimicrobial treatment [[13]]. [Extracted from the article]