Keratinolytic Bacteria (Bacillus pumilus) Enhance Decomposition of Poultry Feather Waste

A pressing demand exists for economically viable and environmentally sound strategies to valorize poultry feather waste, with keratinolytic bacteria demonstrating notable potential in meeting this imperative. The keratinolytic strain Bacillus pumilus NM03, isolated from live poultry, exhibits robust feather degradation capabilities. This study investigates the impact of temperature variations on compost quality, employing wheat and coriander straw, with and without thermophilic microbial inoculation. Temperature @ 37 degrees C + inoculum significantly reduced total nitrogen loss (56.20 and 69.80%) and total organic carbon degradation (47.06 and 62.41%) in coriander and wheat straw composting, respectively, when compared to temperature @37 degrees C. For different regression models, the higher and lower R 2 values were estimated for the linear -linear and log logistic models for coriander with feather composting, and the linear -linear and linear models for wheat with feather composting, respectively. The principal component loading matrix obtained from correlation matrix reveals that the first three components whose eigen values are greater than 1, together account for about 91.70% and 87.69 % of the total explained variance in coriander and wheat with feather composting, respectively. Furthermore, our results showed that temperature @ 37 degrees C + inoculum were most suited for feather composting with wheat and coriander straw for total organic carbon and total nitrogen breakdown was expedited for increased bacterial richness and diversity, as well as Bacillus pumilus overrepresentation. The study highlights the effectiveness of Bacillus pumilus in converting poultry feathers into valuable resources, underscoring its potential for sustainable waste management and resource utilization.