Biodegradation of chicken feather by some keratinolytic fungi

Chicken feathers are keratinized troublesome waste product produced in large quantities in commercial poultry processing and their utilization is of economic value as well as ecological significance to reduce pollution problems. Recently, feather waste is utilized on limited bases as dietary protein supplement for animal feedstuffs. Before its use for this purpose, feathers are chemically treated to increase their digestibility, a process which may destroy some of the amino acids, therefore, enzymic biodegradation may represent a better alternative to improve its nutritional value.The present study was designed to throw light on the biodegradation of chicken feathers using several keratinolytic fungal isolates The study also included an attempt to isolate and purify the keratinase enzymes, produced by the degrading organisms since such enzymes could have several applications in industry.The ability of these fungi to produce other enzymes which may participate with keratinase enzyme in feather biodegradation such as proteases, lipases, ureases and phosphatases was also studied.