Wealth from Poultry Waste

Abstract

Home Waste Management as Economic Industry Towards Circular Economy Chapter Wealth from Poultry Waste V. V. Lakshmi, D. Aruna Devi & K. P. Jhansi Rani Chapter First Online: 14 March 2020 933 Accesses 1 Citations Abstract Poultry farming is practiced intensively throughout the world which generates huge quantities of nitrogen-rich waste in the form of poultry litter and feather waste. Feather which is made of almost pure keratin protein is generated in bulk quantities as a by-product of poultry industry all over the world. It is estimated that 400 million chickens are processed every week with huge amount of feather produced as waste globally. Though made of pure keratin protein, the by-product is neither profitable nor environment friendly. Keratin is highly recalcitrant to all common proteases being slowly digested/degraded in the environment leading to dumps thereby contributing to global environmental pollution problem. Keratin waste has not been considered as a source of dietary protein or organic manure (OM) till recently, as value of FM produced traditionally is very poor with locked nutrients thus not serving as good products. Organic farming has gained popularity due to high health risks associated with the use of chemical fertilizers. Organic produce is sold in the market at almost double price compared to those produced by using chemical fertilizers. Technology has been developed in SPMVV for efficient degradation of poultry waste in five days by developing native bacteria. Feather meal produced by keratinase treatment was found to be significantly superior in nutritive value compared to ones produced by traditional means thus increasing their economic value. KTF had higher value as compared to farmyard manure and vermicompost, the commonly used OM in terms of water retention capacity and production of KTF in shorter time at a lower cost. KTF can also be utilized as feed supplement in poultry and aquaculture industry. Digestion of keratin waste has high potential to serve as a cheap source for the production of value-added products having a high commercial value.