Fig. 1

Corticosterone-mediated stress increased densities of NetB and non-NetB C. perfringens in the small intestine. Birds were administered 0.2% ethanol drinking water (Cp−St−), challenged with 10⁷ CFU C. perfringens (Cp+St−), administered 20 mg/L CORT (Cp−St+), or received both C. perfringens and CORT challenge (Cp+St+). Treatments commenced in birds at 14-days-of-age, where C. perfringens was administered for 2 days and CORT for 7 days. Densities of C. perfringens (log₁₀ copies/g mucus or digesta) were determined by quantitative PCR in jejunal digesta, jejunal mucus, and duodenal mucus using primers specific for 16S gene of C. perfringens. Vertical lines associated with histogram bars represent standard error of the means (n = 4). Asterisks indicate significant differences (P < 0.050)