Management of Poultry feather waste using keratinolytic Fungi

摘要

The poultry industry in Maharashtra State of India has developed in leaps and bounds in last few decades. This had lead to increased problem of feature disposal. Generally the feathers take months together for natural degradation. A systematic study for the degradation and management of these poultry waste was undertaken. The soil samples from poultry farms were subjected to the microbiological analysis for isolation of feather degrading microbes. The screening of the fungi isolated from the soil of poultry farms for synthesis of keratinolytic enzymes on feather based medium was done. Of the 12 fungi isolated Chrysosporium tropicum, C. keratinophilum, Microsporium cannis, Trichophyton verrucosum, T. equinum and some non sporulating forms were found to be most dominant. These isolated fungi showed appreciable keratinolytic activity. All the strains exhibited keratinolytic enzyme activity. These strains were further used for degradation of feathers. They were used in mixed culture. After 40 days of incubation of the feathers, this mixed culture initially degraded the feathers very fast which gradually decreased with increase in incubation period. The degradation was optimum at 35 °C within the pH range of 6.0 to 7.0 Utilizing the feather waste available in the region and isolating the keratinolytic fungi from the indigenous soil proved to be an ideal system in terms of biodegradation and poultry feather waste management as well.