Enzymatic removal of dung from hides

Dung cladding presents problems in the processing of hides into leather. To gether, cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin comprise 80% of the composition of bovine dung, which reflects the lignocellulose content of vegetable fod der. Dung is attached to the hides by physical entrapment in the hairs form ing a 3-dimensional matrix with the hair. Removal of dung from hide pieces was effected by the action of cellulase, xylanase and laccase separately ov er 20-24 hours. Mixtures of these enzymes removed dung in 6-8 hours demonst rating that synergistic activity is more effective than separate enzyme tre atments. The preferred enzyme mixture for optimal removal of dung within 8 hours at 25-35 degrees C, at an economic cost, is 5.0 units per ml of cellu lase with 1.0 unit per ml of xylanase, under the laboratory experimental co nditions. Sodium chloride, up to 3 molar concentration, enhanced enzyme act ivity by 20% for cellulase and 100% for xylanase.