Potential of keratinolytic fungi isolated from chicken and goat farms soil, North Sumatra

Efforts have been made to develop fungal isolates with the ability to degrade chicken feather waste. The goal of this study was to find and test the ability of keratinolytic fungi isolated from the soil around chicken and goat farms to degrade chicken feather waste. The keratinolytic fungi were preliminarily screened for their proteolytic activity on skim milk agar medium. The study obtained forty six isolates that were characterized based on the fungal colonies color or fungal morphotypes. Eight fungal isolates (A2, A7, A12, A18, A29, A31, K1, and K2) displayed considerable proteolytic activities and total degradation of chicken feather in the fermentation medium or feather meal broth in 10 days. Based on the molecular analysis, the species identity of potential isolates namely K2, and A18 were assigned as Yunnania carbonaria and Penicillium citrinum.