Feather meal treated with bacteria yields nutritionally richer livestock feed ingredient

A research conducted in Lead City University at the  department of microbiology by two post graduate students (Olukorede, Mary and Ayanfabi, Funlola) under the supervision of Dr Felicia Adesina (a lecturer and researcher in the university) has revealed that non pathogenic bacteria found in soil from poultry processing points can be used to convert the recalcitrant and indigestible protein (keratin) present in feather to digestible proteins. This is good news to livestock farmers, because this means such digestible feather can potentially replace the commonly used but very expensive fish meal (an animal protein source) in livestock feed especially to non ruminants like pigs, fish, poultry etc. This will hopefully  bring down the cost of livestock feed and livestock production making them affordable for the masses and ordinary man, especially in Nigeria. It is noteworthy to add that the researchers compared the protein content of the bacteria treated feather with heat and chemical treated feather and found that the former is richer in protein than the latter. Further work is ongoing on this research result  so that the next step will be to create awareness among poultry processors on how best to dispose of feather to make it available and fit for recycling by using bacteria since it is cheaper and yields more nutritious feather meal.

Dr Felicia c. Adesina is a lecturer at the microbiology department of Lead City University, Ibadan, Nigeria. She majors in industrial microbiology and biotechnology. She is currently involved in developing cheaper livestock feed ingredients using common waste treated with microorganisms among other researches.