Abstract
Poultry feathers require different approaches of disposal. Feather waste represents a huge resource of protein and the rational utilization of millions of tons of waste feathers will not only ease the shortage of protein resources but will also improves the environment. Conventional methods used for disposing or converting them to protein hydrolysates such as land filling, incineration, burning or the use of chemicals are costly, not environmentally friendly, and pose a danger to living organisms. Microbial hydrolysis is considered an alternative environmental-friendly method for recycling. As physiological and nutritional factors greatly affect feather degradation and keratinase production, the effects of various factors such as incubation temperature and pH on feather degradation by various microorganisms were reviewed in this study.
Highlights
The daily consumption of chicken increases annually as one of the cheapest and healthiest sources of protein
Feathers account for approximately 5-7% of the total weight of a mature chicken and feather waste represents a huge resource of protein. 90% of feather biomass constitutes primarily β-keratin, azelon, and insoluble protein extensively cross-linked by disulfide bonds [3,4], 70% of amino acids, high-value elements, vitamins, and growth factors [5]
Protease with keratinase activity produced by growing microbes of certain species decomposes the feathers, releasing the proteins, peptides, and free proteinogenic amino acids that can support the growth of the living microbes
Summary
The daily consumption of chicken increases annually as one of the cheapest and healthiest sources of protein. The feathers may be hydrolysed, dried and ground to a powder to be used as a feed supplement for a variety of livestock, primarily pigs [14] This is a fairly expensive process, and results in a protein product of low quality for which the demand is low [15]. These methods are not ideal in that they destroy the amino acids in the feathers and consume large amounts of energy. Protease with keratinase activity produced by growing microbes of certain species decomposes the feathers, releasing the proteins, peptides, and free proteinogenic amino acids (and derivatives) that can support the growth of the living microbes. As physiological and nutritional factors greatly affect feather degradation and keratinase production, the effects of various factors such as incubation temperature and pH on feather degradation by various microorganisms were reviewed in this study
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