Passive maternal exposure to environmental microbes selectively modulates the innate defences of chicken egg white by increasing some of its antibacterial activities

Table 2 Protein concentration, pH, lysozyme and protease inhibiting activities of egg whites (GF, SPF and C hens)

Measurements	Germ-free hens	Specific pathogen free hens	Conventional hens	P value
Protein concentration (mg/ml)	111 ± 14	119 ± 14	116 ± 6	0.24
pH	8.41 ± 0.10 a*	8.54 ± 0.11 b	8.60 ± 0.15 b	<0.001
Lysozyme activity (U/mg)	110200 ± 51220	96700 ± 29820	101700 ± 35120	0.74
Remaining protease inhibition activity (% of control)
Anti-papain activity	45.4 ± 5.3	43.7 ± 5.5	41.8 ± 3.5	0.26
Anti-trypsin activity	46.4 ± 2.9	46.3 ± 4.6	45.9 ± 2.9	0.95
Anti-chymotrypsin activity	44.2 ± 4.6	48.6 ± 5.2	48.8 ± 4.9	0.07

*Values are mean ± standard deviation, n = 10. Means with different letters are different (p < 0.05). The pH values were analysed using the Kruskal-Wallis test followed by the Mann–Whitney test; all other data were analysed using one-way ANOVA followed by the Bonferroni-Dunn test.

ISSN: 1471-2180