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