African Journal of
Biotechnology

  • Abbreviation: Afr. J. Biotechnol.
  • Language: English
  • ISSN: 1684-5315
  • DOI: 10.5897/AJB
  • Start Year: 2002
  • Published Articles: 12486

Full Length Research Paper

Feather wastes digestion by new isolated strains Bacillus sp. in Morocco

Ilham Zerdani1, Mohamed Faid2* and Abderahim Malki1
1Faculté des Sciences Ben M’sik Université Hassan II- Mohammadia, PO Box 7955-Sidi Othmane Casablanca. Morocco. 2Hassan II Institute of Agronomy and Veterinary Medicine department of Food engineering and Technology, PO Box 6202 Rabat-Institute, Morocco.
Email: [email protected]

  •  Accepted: 03 December 2003
  •  Published: 31 January 2004

Abstract

Eight strains of Bacillus were isolated from non treated soil, characterized and used for the digestion of feather wastes in the laboratory. Non-protein nitrogen (NPN) and total protein (TP) were determined during the incubation time and the microbial counts of the different strains during feather hydrolysis were also monitored. Results of the screening test showed that the solid pieces of feather were completely digested by all the strains. The most efficient isolated strain selected was compared with Bacillus subtilis ATCC 6633. Results showed that the total protein decreased from 13.6% to 1.92 % with the isolated strain, and from 12.25 % to 2.99% with the standard strain. The NPN reached a concentration of 43.2mg/100g and 20.5 mg/100g with the isolated and standard strains, respectively.

 

Key words:  Feather, keratin, Bacillus, fermentation, process.