A survey of keratinophilic fungi as a tool for hen feather utilization

One hundred keratinophilic fungi belonging to Acremonium, Aphanoascus, Amauroascus, Botryotrichum, Chrysosporiurn, Ctenomyces, Gymnoascus, Malbranchea, Microsporum, Narashimella and Verticillium were tested for their potential to utilize hen feathers as keratinous waste. Acremonium sp. 2 and Chrysosporium europae released 494.33 and 457.33μg/ml protein from feathers respectively. Microsporum gypseum released 698.66μg/ml protein from feathers. Some of these keratinophUic strains other than Microsporum may prove beneficial as tools for rapid utilization of not only feathers but other hard keratinous substrates and their end product may be of industrial importance.