Abstract
Composting is one of the more economical and environmentally safe methods of recycling feather waste generated by the poultry industry, since 90% of the feather weight consists of crude keratin protein, and feathers contain 15% N. However, the keratin in waste feathers is resistant to biodegradation and may require the addition of bacterial inocula to enhance the degradation process during composting. Two keratin-degrading bacteria isolated from plumage of wild songbirds and identified as Bacillus licheneformis (OWU 1411T) and Streptomyces sp. (OWU 1441) were inoculated into poultry feather composts (1.13×108 cfu g−1 feathers) and co-composted with poultry litter and straw in 200-l compost vessels. Composting temperatures, as well as CO2 and NH3 evolution, were measured in these vessels to determine the effects of inoculation on the rate and extent of poultry feather decomposition during composting. Terminal restriction fragment length polymorphisms of 16S rRNA genes were used to follow changes in microbial community structure during composting. The results indicated that extensive carbon conversion occurred in both treatments (55.5 and 56.1%). The addition of the bacterial inocula did not enhance the rate of waste feather composting. The microbial community structure over time was very similar in inoculated and uninoculated waste feather composts.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Burtt EH Jr, Ichida JM (1999) Occurrence of feather-degrading bacilli in the plumage of birds. Auk 116:364–372
Dick WA, McCoy EL (1993) Enhancing soil fertility by addition of compost. In: Hoitink HAJ, Keener HM (eds) Science and engineering of composting: design, environmental, microbiological, and utilization aspects. Renaissance Publications, Worthington, Ohio, pp 622–644.
Elwell DL, Keener HM, Hoitink HAJ, Hansen RC, Hoff J (1994) Pilot and full-scale evaluations of leaves as an amendment in sewage sludge composting. Compost Sci Util 4:6–15
Fisher ML, Leeson S, Morrison WD, Summers JD (1981) Feather growth and feather composition of broiler chickens. Can J Anim Sci 61:768–773
Golueke CG, Card BJ, McGauley PH (1954) A critical evaluation of inocula in composting. Appl Microbiol 2:45–63
Holt JG, Krieg NK, Sneath PHA, Bergy D (1994) Bergey’s manual of determinative bacteriology, 9th edn. Williams and Wilkins, Baltimore
Hugenholtz P, Goebel BM, Pace NR (1998) Impact of culture-independent studies on the emerging phylogenetic view of bacterial diversity. J Bacteriol 180:4765–4774
Ichida JM, Krizova L, LeFevre CA, Keener HM, Elwell DL, Burtt EH Jr (2001) Bacterial inoculum enhances keratin degradation and biofilm formation in poultry compost. J Microbiol Methods 47:199–208
Kim JM, Lim WJ, Suh HJ (2001) Feather-degrading Bacillus species from poultry wastes. Process Biochem 37:287–291
Kowalchuk GA, Naoumenko ZA, Derikx JL, Felske A, Stephen JR, Arkhipchenko IA (1999) Molecular analysis of ammonia-oxidizing bacteria of the beta subdivision of the class Proteobacteria in compost and composted materials. Appl Environ Microbiol 65:396–403
Liu WT, Marsh T, Cheng H, Forney LJ (1997) Characterization of microbial community by determining terminal restriction fragment length polymorphisms of genes encoding 16S rRNA. Appl Environ Microbiol 63:4516–4522
Papadopoulos MC (1985) Processed chicken feathers as feed stuff for poultry and swine. A review. Agric Wastes 14:275–290
Peters S, Koschinsky S, Schweiger F, Tebbe CC (2000). Succession of microbial communities during hot composting as detected by PCR-single-strand-conformation polymorphism-based genetic profiles of small-subunit rRNA genes. Appl Environ Microbiol 66:930–936
Stentiford EI (1996) Composting control: principles and practice. In: DeBertoldi M, Sequi P, Lemmes B, Papi T (eds) The science of composting. Part I. Chapman and Hall, London, pp 49–59
Strom PF (1985) Effect of temperature on bacterial species diversity during thermophilic solid waste composting. Appl Environ Microbiol 50:899–905
Tiquia SM (2002) Evaluation of organic matter and nutrient composition of partially decomposed and composted spent pig litter. Environ Technol 24:97–107
Tiquia SM, Michel FC Jr (2002) Bacterial diversity in livestock manure composts as characterized by terminal restriction fragment length polymorphisms (TRFLP) of PCR-amplified 16S rRNA gene sequences. In: Insam H, Riddech N, Klammer S (eds) Microbiology of composting. Springer, Berlin Heidelberg New York, pp 64–82
Acknowledgements
This work was financially supported by funds from The University of Michigan-Dearborn Campus Grants, The Ohio State University, Agricultural Research and Development Center Seed Grant Program and National Science Foundation C-RUI grant DBI 9978805
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Tiquia, S.M., Ichida, J.M., Keener, H.M. et al. Bacterial community profiles on feathers during composting as determined by terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis of 16S rDNA genes. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 67, 412–419 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-004-1788-y
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-004-1788-y