Abstract
Dimeric keratinase from Bacillus licheniformis ER-15 completely degraded 25g boiled native chicken feather to feather meal within 8h at pH 8, 50°C and 150rpm. Feather degradation was a linear function of enzyme concentration and 2.5g chicken feather was degraded in presence of 1200U keratinase. Process for feather meal production comprised soaking of 25g feather in 250ml water followed by boiling for 10min-20min before enzyme addition. Feather meal thus produced was dried at 80°C and ground to obtain feather meal powder. Feather meal contained 14% nitrogen, 44% carbon with all essential amino acids and showed 73% in-vitro digestibility.
Highlights
Feather is protein rich waste product of poultry processing industries which are being generated in billion of tons every year [1,2,3,4]
Feather are degraded to feather meal which is used as animal feed, organic fertilizers, feed supplements because it is made up of >90% protein and rich in hydrophobic amino acids and important amino acids like cystine, arginine, threonine [5,6]
Till date not more than 10% feather degradation is reported in the presence of keratinases a novel dimeric keratinase from Bacillus licheniformis ER-15 was observed to degrade feather completely into feather meal [10]
Summary
Feather is protein rich waste product of poultry processing industries which are being generated in billion of tons every year [1,2,3,4]. Hydrothermal treatment, results in destruction of essential amino acids like methionine, lysine, tyrosine, tryptophan and has poor digestibility and low nutritional value [7,8]. In this respect, microbial degradation of feather into feather meal has gained importance and new microbes are being looked upon for efficient degradation of feather. Amino acid analysis and in-vitro digestibility of the feather meal is compared with existing reports
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