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Abstract Background This study aimed to evaluate the effects of Hermetia illucens (Black soldier fly-BSF) and Tenebrio molitor (Yellow mealworm-YMW) live larvae as a new nutritional model on duck’s gut health, considering gut histomorphometry, mucin composition, cytokines transcription levels, and microbiota. A total of 126, 3-days-old, females Muscovy ducks were randomly allotted to three dietary treatments (6 replicates/treatment, 7 birds/pen): (i) C: basal diet; (ii) BSF: C + BSF live larvae; (iii) YMW: C + YMW live larvae. BSF and YMW live larvae were administered on top of the basal diet, based on the 5% of the expected daily feed intake. The live weight, average daily gain, average daily feed intake and feed conversion ratio were evaluated for the whole experimental period. On day 52, 12 ducks/treatment (2 birds/replicate) were slaughtered and samples of duodenum, jejunum, ileum, spleen, liver, thymus and bursa of Fabricius were collected for histomorphometry. Mucin composition was evaluated in the small intestine through histochemical staining while jejunal MUC-2 and cytokines transcription levels were evaluated by rt-qPCR. Cecal microbiota was also analyzed by means of 16 S rRNA gene sequencing. Results Birds’ growth performance and histomorphometry were not influenced by diet, with a proximo-distal decreasing gradient from duodenum to ileum (p |
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