Contact
Margrét Geirsdóttir
Project Manager
mg@matis.is
Protein-rich flour from chicken feathers in fish feed
In order to utilize chicken feathers in feather meal, the proteins are broken down to increase the digestibility of the flour, taking into account the needs of farmed animals. In this project, work was done on the development of feather meal with hydrolysis. The chemical content of the feather meal was examined in addition to the amino acid composition and flour from Icelandic chicken feathers was examined in comparison with other experiments where feather meal has been analyzed. Feather meal has an 80% protein content and its digestibility is comparable to that known in fish meal. Feather meal has long been used in animal feed in North and South America and in recent years has been gaining ground as a cheap protein source for farm animals in Europe.
In order to utilize chicken feathers as feather meal nutritious for animal cultivation, proteins are degraded to make the feather meal digestible for farming animals. In this project feather meal from chicken feathers was hydrolyzed to increase digestibility. The chemical content of the feather meal was examined as well as amino acids composition. The Icelandic feather meal was also compared to results of researches conducted elsewhere on feather meal. Feather meal has an 80% protein content and its digestibility is comparable to fish meal. Feather meal has been used for a long time in feed in North and South America and has in recent years been pushing itself as a cheap protein source for farming animals in Europe.