Isolation and screening for Streptomyces strain capable of efficient feather degradation

Feathers cause environmental problems worldwide when poultry processing industries produce it as a waste of billions of tons yearly. This waste is not easily decomposed by natural agents in a short time. Currently, Streptomyces spp. are known as a highly enzymatic activity species which can efficiently degrade feathers to products. Therefore, the aim of this study was to screen for Streptomyces strains with high feather-degrading activity. A total of 46 strains of Streptomyces spp. were isolated from different soils of Danang city and other vicinities, in which 13 isolates showed the ability to degrade casein and gelatin. The protease activity of H3, N5, and N7 isolates were higher than others. In particular, N7 strain had the highest protease activity with 70.33 U/mL and degraded 97.79% feather after 5 days of cultivation. Based on the sequence analysis of 16S rRNA, N7 was identified as homologous to Streptomyces anandii.