Preen oil is an oleaginous secretion that birds spread onto their plumage when preening. It is secreted by the uropygial (or preen) gland, a holocrine complex that is unique to birds and located in the integument of the rump (Clark 2004). The functions of the uropygial gland are still disputed: it may be involved in sexual communication, through pheromone production (Hirao et al. 2009), and thr...

In order to develop a practical method for the decomposition of intact chicken feathers, a moderate thermophile strain, Meiothermus ruber H328, having strong keratinolytic activity, was used in a bio-type garbage-treatment machine working with an acidulocomposting process. The addition of strain H328 cells (15 g) combined with acidulocomposting in the garbage machine resulted in 70% degradation...

Chicken feathers are major poultry waste that is difficult to process in its native form due highly resistant keratin protein large amounts. In this study, a novel feather-degrading bacterium, Bacillus amyloliquefaciens KB1, was screened from chicken farm bed (CFB) using morphological and biochemical tests followed by 16s rDNA analysis. Among observed isolates, bacterial isolate (KB1) showed th...

Biodegradation of livestock processing waste is one the more cost-effective, ecologically safe recycling methods thatmay preserve nutritional content and key amino acids useful in animal feed production. Here, we determined thebiodegrading potentials nonconventional feedstuffs using a combination bacteria (Bacillus subtilis) fungi(Fusarium sp.). Five types (feather meal, hair waste, egg membran...

The Actinomycetes comprise a ubiquitous order of bacteria which exhibits wide physiological and morphological diversity. These microorganisms are particularly abundant in alkaline soils rich in organic matter. Keratin is an insoluble structural protein of skin, and its derivatives (e.g. feather, hair, wool and horn) are known for their high stability. Actinomycetes producing keratinases are hav...

The brilliant red, orange and yellow colours of parrot feathers are the product of psittacofulvins, which are synthetic pigments known only from parrots. Recent evidence suggests that some pigments in bird feathers function not just as colour generators, but also preserve plumage integrity by increasing the resistance of feather keratin to bacterial degradation. We exposed a variety of colourfu...