Enzyme Hydrolysis Of Chicken Feathers And Characterization Of The Metabolites
Abstract
Chicken feathers are largely produced as waste from domestic and poultry processing
industries. Waste feathers are discarded into the environment without any effort to recycle.
Current methods of feather disposal have proved harmful as they contribute to environmental
pollution. Feathers comprise of protein, and they can be utilized as an alternative source of
animal feed protein.
In an effort to reduce environmental concerns caused by the discarding of feather waste, this
study evaluated the efficacy of alkaline protease from bacteria isolated in Kenya’s extreme
environment for the hydrolysis of feathers. Factors affecting enzyme hydrolysis such as
enzyme concentration, pH, and temperature, were investigated and optimized. Feather
hydrolysate was characterized using Fourier Transmission Infra-Red (FTIR), High-
Performance Liquid chromatography (HPLC) and Gas Chromatography mass Spectroscopy
(GC-MS). Proximate analysis was investigated to determine the nutritional attributes of the
feather hydrolysate.
The findings from the study revealed that optimum conditions for enzymatic hydrolysis were
80˚C and pH of 13 using undiluted crude alkaline protease. The kinetics of the reaction showed
that it was zero-order with respect to the concentration of the reactants, and the Michaelis-
Menten constant value determined was 0.0362×10-7 μM. FTIR characterization showed clear
peaks at 3267.41 cm-1, 1543.33 cm-1, 1242.16 cm-1, 1665.64 cm-1 that were attributed to
protein functional groups in Amide A, Amide I, Amide II, Amide III respectively. GC-MS
results showed the presence of Vitamin E and Octadecenamide. The amino acid analysis
showed that glycine and glutamic acid were high in % molar composition with 11.3% and 9.6%
respectively, while the lowest was histidine with 0.5%. Proximate analysis of the hydrolysate
revealed that crude protein content was 73.3%, fibre content 0.315%, moisture content 6.6%,
carbohydrate content 19.8%, and ash content 6.76%.
The study showed that crude alkaline protease effectively hydrolysed feathers waste and can
be used to recycle feathers and reduction of environmental pollution. The findings show that
feathers hydrolysate is nutritious and can be utilized as an alternate and sustainable source of
protein in animal feeds fortification
Publisher
University of Nairobi
Rights
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 United StatesUsage Rights
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/Collections
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