Gut health in broiler chickens fed a mixture of Hermetia illucens and Tenebrio molitor meals: does it have a key role in shaping bird performance?
Abstract
Insect meals are promising sustainable protein sources for poultry, but comprehensive insights into their effects on gut health and growth performance are lacking. This study is the first to elucidate relationships between gut health parameters and performance in broilers fed Hermetia illucens (HI) and Tenebrio molitor (TM) meals at 5% or 10% inclusion levels, singly or in a 1:1 combination. A 37-day trial used 420 male Ross 308 chicks randomly allocated to seven treatments: control (C), HI5 (5% HI), HI10 (10% HI), TM5 (5% TM), TM10 (10% TM), MIX5 (5% MIX), and MIX10 (10% MIX). By integrating intestinal histomorphometry, mucin histochemistry, multi-organ histopathology, and multi-omics cecal microbiome characterization, we identified key structural, microbial, and metabolic biomarkers associated with performance variations (false discovery rate [FDR]
Fields of Study & Subjects
Insect Utilization and Effects
Coccidia and coccidiosis research
Animal Nutrition and Physiology
Publication details
- Journal / source
- Poultry Science
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Volume
- 105
- Issue
- 7
- Pages
- 106966–106966
- Publication date
- 16 April 2026
- Language
- EN