Changes in the microbial abundance on incubated and non-incubated eggs.

<p>Total bacterial abundance was estimated with log-copy numbers per square centimeter obtained from quantitative PCR with a bacterial universal primer set (333F-518R) in 9 incubated nests and 3 control nests at day 3 (before incubation) and day 18 (after incubation). Asterisks represent significant difference (<i>P</i><0.05) by paired t-test between day 3 and day 18. Error bars denote standard errors.