Effective feather degradation and keratinase production by Bacillus pumilus GRK for its application as bio-detergent additive.

An effecient feather-degrading bacterium was isolated from poultry dumping yard and identified as Bacillus pumilus GRK based on 16 S rRNA sequencing. Complete feather degradation (98.3 ± 1.52%) with high keratinase production (373 ± 4 U/ml) was observed in 24 h under optimized conditions (substrate 1% (w/w); inoculum size 4% (v/v); pH 10; 200 rpm at 37 °C) with feathers as sole carbon and nitrogen source in tap water. The fermented broth was enriched with amino acids like tryptophan (221.44 µg/ml), isoleucine (15.0 µg/ml), lysine (10.81 µg/ml) and methionine (7.24 µg/ml) suggesting its potential use as feed supplement. The keratinase produced was a detergent stable serine protease and its activity was further enhanced by Ca +2 and Mg +2 . Bacillus pumilus GRK keratinase was successfully utilised as bioadditive in detergent formulations for removing the blood stains from cloth without affecting its fiber and texture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]