Biodegradation of Keratin-Rich Husbandry Waste as a Path to Sustainable Agriculture

Abstract

Every year, the size of the human population grows; with it, the need for agricultural products increases. This leads to an increment in the volume of waste, including hard-to-degrade keratin-rich ones, such as feathers. Currently, most of the agro-industrial complex protein by-products are utilized by incineration, landfilling, and chemical hydrolysis. Such methods do not meet modern trends in the development of a sustainable economy, negatively affecting the environment and humans, and preventing the reusing of waste. An alternative is biodegradation, which consists of the application of living organisms and their enzymes to recycle by-products. This approach is not only sustainable, but also makes it possible to obtain products of waste hydrolysis that are in demand for the manufacture of fertilizers and feed additives. This brings the development of agriculture closer to a circular economy and makes the recycling process more profitable. This review article emphasizes the significance of keratinolytic microorganisms and keratinases for the improvement of green methods for processing hard-to-degrade protein waste of the agro-industrial complex, which is necessary for sustainable economic development.

Feather Degrading Fungi: Isolation, Identification and Measuring the Proteolytic Activity Using Solid-State Fermentation Technique

“…As a result, the keratinizing microorganisms growing in such conditions correspond to the trends of sustainable development. Moreover, unlike chemical hydrolysis, no harsh substances are used during the process of biodegradation (Shestakova et al, 2021).…”

Sustainable Applications of Animal Waste Proteins

“…While collagen is considered the most abundant protein in mammals, accounting for over 30% of the body's total protein composition [13][14][15]. And keratin accounts for up to 90% of the total weight of skin derivatives, such as wool and feathers, which facilitates its extraction [12,16]. Regarding that, keratin and collagen are of particular interest for the development of methods for the large-scale biomedicine and biotechnology production of materials.…”

Perspectives on Converting Keratin-Containing Wastes Into Biofertilizers for Sustainable Agriculture

“…During the growth of microorganisms, other nutrients such as phosphate will be taken from the medium for energy synthesis and building up cell organelles such as cell membrane. Keratin-containing wastes will play a role in sustainable agriculture by providing value-added products (da Silva, 2018 ; Shestakova et al, 2021 ). The keratin hydrolysate influences the plant growth because of the peptides and amino acids which play versatile roles in plants (Bhari et al, 2021 ).…”