| Summary: | The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of <i>Hermetia illucens</i> (HI) and <i>Tenebrio molitor</i> (TM) live larvae as environmental enrichment on the mucin composition, local immune response and microbiota of broilers. A total of 180 four-day-old male broiler chickens (Ross 308) were randomly allotted to three dietary treatments (six replicates/treatment; ten animals/replicate): (i) control (C); (ii) C+HI; (iii) C+TM. Live larvae were distributed based on 5% of the expected daily feed intake. At slaughter (39 days of age), samples of duodenum, jejunum and ileum (twelve animals/diet) were submitted to mucin histochemical evaluation. Expression of MUC-2 and cytokines was evaluated by rt-qPCR in jejunum. Mucin staining intensity was not influenced by diet (<i>p</i> > 0.05); however, this varied depending on the intestinal segment (<i>p</i> < 0.001). No significant differences were recorded for IL-4, IL-6 TNF-α, MUC-2 and INF-γ gene expression in jejunum, while IL-2 was lower in the TM group compared to HI and C (<i>p</i> = 0.044). Caecal microbiota showed higher abundance of <i>Clostridium, Saccharibacteria</i> and <i>Victivallaceae</i> in the HI group, while <i>Collinsella</i> was higher in the TM group. The results suggested that live insect larvae did not impair mucin composition or local immune response, and can slightly improve caecal microbiota by enhancing a minor fraction of short chain fatty acid-producing taxa.
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