부산대학교 도서관

In Taiwan, the production of poultry feather waste was 27,003 and 27,804 tons in 2012 and 2013, respectively. Improper disposal of feather waste could cause serious problems to the environment. Even though feathers are rich in nitrogen, plants and animals cannot absorb and utilize them efficiently because of a high keratin content. The main purpose of this study was to isolate and identify bacteria, which could effectively degrade feathers and to formulate a feather liquid fertilizer with inorganic elements which could be used to enhance the growth of Pak-choi plants. Twenty-seven strains of feather-degrading bacteria were collected from feather wastes. Among them, strain PDML-0417 showed the ability to degrade feathers as high as 42 %. Ten strains displayed degradation efficiencies between 26- 35 %, and the others had less than 25 % degradation rates. PDML- 0417 (GenBank:MK987106) was identified as Deinococcus ficus Lai et al., based on partial 16s rDNA sequence similarity. The ability of PDML-0417 to degrade feather waste was evaluated after mixing with different buffers. The results indicated that PDML-0417 cultured in 1% (w/v) feather medium amended with 0.1% (w/v) potassium phosphate buffer (designated FP medium) enhanced the rates of feather degradation from 42% to 80%. The addition of different inorganics either individually or in various combinations in FP medium failed to improve the rates of feather degradation. PDML-0417 cultured in FP medium amended with 1%(w/v) K2HPO4 and 1%(w/v)CaSO4 (feather liquid fertilizer, FLF) after being applied to Pak-choi seeds at different ratios increased the root length of Pak-choi seedlings. Root length was increased by 84.1% at 1000 fold dilution compared to the control. The fresh weight of Pak-choi seedlings drenched with FLF at 100-fold dilution once a week for three weeks increased by more than 30% and had overall healthy leaves in relation to those of mock controls.