Revista Europea de Biología Experimental Acceso abierto

Abstracto

Degradation of chicken feathers by Leuconostoc sp. and Pseudomonas microphilus

Tamil Kani. P, Subha. K, Madhanraj. P, Senthilkumar. G and Panneerselvam. A

Feather constitutes over 90% protein, the main component being beta-keratin, a fibrous and insoluble structural protein extensively cross linked by disulfide bonds. This renders them resistant to digestion by animal, insects and proteases leading to serious disposal problems. Keratinases which are produced by these keratinolytic organisms could be used to degrade feather waste and further the digested products could be an excellent material for producing animal feed, fertilizers or natural gas. Screened for the ability to hydrolyse kerterin in feather meal agar plates. Kekratinase activity of Pseudomonas microphilus maximum concentration 0.884 (20/ml) on 30 days and minimum concentration of 0.425 (IU/mt) on 30 days. The percentage of weight loss of feather treated for 10 days was found to be 20%. The percent weight loss of feather 20 days incubation was 45%. The weight loss of feather treated for 30 days was found to be 70% from the dates in Pseudomonas microphilus compare to Leuconostoc. sp.