Abstract

Keratin, a versatile bioprotein, has seen a tremendous industrial exploitation due to its outstanding biodegradability and biocompatibility nature. Keratin is primarily derived from substrates such as feathers, nails, horns, beaks, hair and bovine hoofs. The generation of chicken and pigeon feather wastes has risen over the years in Vellore. When it is not discarded properly, this acts as a major root cause for the dissemination of various diseases to humans. The primary aim of this research is to remediate these wastes by extracting the keratin and to prove that beta-mercaptoethanol enhances keratinase activity by in-silico approach for degradation of these wastes. In light of this, the feathers from the dumped sites of Vellore were exploited and the keratin was extracted from country chicken and pigeon feathers which yields a concentration of 3.44 mg/L and 2.8 mg/L of keratin. This extraction procedure is significantly more cost-effective and yields more keratin than earlier approaches.