Hi,
I am currently creating a meta-analysis on the effect of growth performance of pigs in response to dietary fiber content in experimental diets as well as the influence of a fiber enzyme supplement.
I am having trouble entering data collected from research articles and was hoping for some clarification.
Example article (Koo et al., 2017) - study used a 3x 2 factorial design where authors looked at 3 diets (diet A (complex 1), B (complex 2), C (simple)) and 2 levels of multicarbohydrase supplementation (0% or (-) and 1% (+)). The authors then reported the growth performance results as ADG, ADFI and G:F (picture posted here). In this case, I am just collecting the day 1 to 28 reported data. As you can see, the authors report growth performance points for 5 variables (Diet A,B,C and (-) and (+) multicarbohydrase levels)
In terms of dietary content, the authors just report the dietary content of each diet (A,B,C)
When I enter this collected data, I need to report the growth performance results in addition to the dietary content of the experimental diet used for that growth performance endpoint. For example, how do I know what experimental diet content is in the Multicarbohydrase (+) and (-) endpoints?
Since this is a 3 x 2 factorial design I was thinking there would be 6 treatments (Each diet with each enzyme level) but there are only 5 so how do I know which treatment has which dietary content?
Here is the paper I am referencing as well. - Article Effects of diet complexity and multicarbohydrase supplementa...
It took me a while to understand this. In my opinion, the data representation here is quite poor. Measurements taken during different periods add to the confusion, as they appear to be another factor. However, this might be a standard method of presenting such data in animal husbandry.
The data presented in the table do not represent results obtained from specific combinations of factors. Instead, they show the summary main effects for each factor (check picture). As a result, we have five "results." Since one level of the supplement is 0%, the authors could actually calculate the impact of MC on the diet from the main effects and interactions.
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