Production of an Extra Cellular Feather Degrading Enzyme by Bacillus licheniformis Isolated from Poultry Farm Soil in Namakkal District (Tamilnadu)

Chicken feather is recognized as a solid waste generated from poultry farms and is abundant in Namakkal district, Tamilnadu, India. Feather is commonly treated by high temperature and pressure; it is used as animal food stuffs. However, feather degradation by biological methods has been increasingly interested because of environmental awareness. In this study, unidentified bacterial strains isolated from soil samples. They had show ability of feather degradation by making a clear zone around their colonies in FMA medium. The zoned isolates were identified by morphological and biochemical tests. The Bacillus licheniformis were also examined for keratinase production by shake flask fermentation in a basal medium containing 1% feather. The fermentation mediums were optimized. Fermentation process was carried out at 37°C for 7 days at 150 rpm. Crude keratinase were extracted and purified by salt precipitation, dialysis and column chromatography and measured the activity of keratinase.