animal and poultry
waste management research:
a progress report

Production of Amino Acids and Peptides from Feathers
and Other Proteinaceous Wastes Using Immobilized Keratinase
The Animal and Poultry Waste Management Center

Scientists demonstrated that keratinase, a feather-degrading enzyme, can be immobilized and used to hydrolyze, or break down, poultry feathers into high-value amino acids and peptides that may be used as ingredients in animal feed. Poultry feathers are a significant waste-disposal problem for the poultry industry. This project was part of a larger effort to develop a bioreactor to convert poultry feathers and perhaps livestock carcasses into value-added products (see also Optimizing the Proteolytic Degradation of Animal By-Products).

Funding: $15,000
Source: USDA grant
Status: completed

Principal Investigator: Dr. Jason C.H. Shih, professor, Poultry Science, North Carolina State University, phone: (919) 515-5521, fax: (919) 515-2625, email: JASON_SHIH@NCSU.EDU (Dr. Shih is on sabbatical until January 1998. He can be reached at the following email address: JCHSHIH@GATE.SINICA.EDU.TW)

Collaborator: Dr. Harold E. Swaisgood, William Neal Reynolds Professor, Food Science, North Carolina State University