Feather Degradation and Keratinase Production by Bacillus Sp. and Lactobacillus Sp.

The aim of this research was to investigate the pote ntial of chicken feather degradation by Bacillus sp . and Lactobacillus sp. The bacteria were grown with 43 °C and pH 7.5 in basal medium, the growth cell of bac teria, dry weight and percentage of the feather were measured. Both strains could degrade part of the feather at 5 and 10 days. The bacteria growths were monitored by turbidity met hod. The growth of cell showed Bacillus sp. had high est of growth, cell at 10 days. Whole feather, dry weights of both s rains was related to a percentage of the feather d gradation. These found, Lactobacillus sp. resulting great in feather, dry weight and percentage of feather degradation, higher than that the Bacillus sp. This strain showed the feather, dr y weight at 67.67 grams and partial degradation of the feather at 32.33% after 10 days of incubation. Keratinolytic a tivity assay were shown as 50.36 and 60.92 U/ml fr om Lactobacillus sp. and Bacillus sp., respectively. This is very int eresting; because of Lactobacillus sp. showed great of a feather degrading percentage, but secreted the enzyme less than Bacillus sp. strain. This strain has been a lit tle reported for feather degradation and we indicated that the strai n could be strong to degrade feather of the chicken a d can be a highly useful bacterium for feather meal production and in leather industry.