Sekobane Daniel Kolobe, Thendo Mafuna, Monnye Mabelebele
Abstract Edible insects has been identified among the potential natural feed additives to in poultry diets. Aim The study evaluated the responses in caeca bacterial community of Ross 308 broiler chickens fed defatted winged termite meal (WTM). A total of 150 one-day-old, unsexed broiler chicks were assigned to 3 dietary treatments in a completely randomized design (CRD) with 5 replicates of 10 chickens each. Three iso-nitrogenous and iso-energetic diets were formulated as follows: WTM0 = a commercial diet without WTM; WTM5 = WTM0 with 50 g/kg of WTM; WTM10 = WTM0 with 10% of WTM as a natural feed additive. At the end of starter, grower and finisher phases, chickens were slaughtered for bacterial activity analyses using 16 S targeted gene sequencing. Broilers on WTM10 had higher (p < 0.05) Bacteroidota than other treatment groups at starter and grower phases. However, Cyanobacteria increased (p < 0.05) proportionally with incremental levels of WTM at grower. Firmicutes counts were higher (p < 0.05) in birds on WTM5 at grower and finisher. Ruminococcaceae UCG − 005 counts increased (p < 0.05) with incremental levels of WTM at starter while birds fed WTM5 had higher (p < 0.05) Subdoligranulum abundance at starter and grower. WTM supplementation at up to 10% in broiler chicken diets improved diversity and abundance of bacterial species in the caeca, particularly at grower phase.