Fig. 5

The effects of early 4-week fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) on jejunal health and development of Guishanhuang chickens throughout their whole growth period. FMT vs control groups at 30th, 60th, and 90th days of age. The comparison of A jejunal length, B the jejunum villus length and jejunal crypts, HE staining, magnification; 10 × 4, scale bar; 500 µm; C, goblet cell counts in the jejunum, PAS staining, magnification; 10 × 20, scale bar; 60 µm; and D, Paneth cells count in the jejunum, Lendrum staining, magnification; 10 × 40, scale bar; 50 µm. Statistically significant differences between FMT vs Con groups were determined using unpaired Student’s t tests. Data are presented as mean ± SEM. d, age in days; Con, control group (n = 15); FMT, fecal microbiota transplantation group (n = 15), HPF, high power field, GC, goblet cells, PC, Paneth cells. *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01, ***P < 0.001, ****P < 0.0001