Production of keratinous waste degrading enzyme by Arthroderma multifidum isolated from soil of Rajasthan, India

Abstract

The aim of this study was to detect and evaluate the extracellular keratinase enzyme production by Arthroderma multifidum TKKASa (KU560574), a keratin-degrading fungus isolated from the keratin contaminated soil of Rajasthan, India. This study focused on the evaluation of the effect of keratin substrates, pH, incubation days, temperature and metal ions for keratinase enzyme production. The highest enzyme production by A. multifidum was observed on chicken feathers (56.25±0.69 U/mL) followed by human hair, animal hair and human nail clippings. The maximum keratinase production by A. multifidum was achieved at 40˚C with 58.80±0.98 U/mL enzyme activity and pH 8.0 (56.65±0.85 U/mL) after 12 days of fermentation. The addition of metal ions in basal salt media resulted in the decrease in enzyme production. This study reports keratinase production by A. multifidum and the high efficiency on the chicken feather degradation in comparison to human nail clipping, animal hair and human hair degradation. Its potential use is in biotechnological processes such as biodegradation of keratin wastes, eco-friendly dehairing and poultry feed production.