ENZYMATIC-HYDROLYSIS OF TANNERY FLESHINGS USING CHICKEN INTESTINE PROTEASES

Chicken intestine and tannery fleshings, the major wastes from poultry and tannery industries posing wide disposal problems, are used in thi s study for the recovery of proteins through biodegradation. Chicken i ntestines have been investigated as a source of proteolytic and autoly tic enzymes for the hydrolysis of tannery fleshings. A combination of tannery fleshings and chicken intestines at acidic pH, when incubated at 37 degrees C, leads to optimum hydrolysis of tannery fleshings as e videnced by tyrosine release. The protein hydrolysate obtained could b e incorporated in poultry or fish feed formulations. Altered amounts o f protein content in the supernatant indicated an increased rate of hy drolysis of fleshings in the presence of enzyme (chicken intestine). M oisture, ash, total protein and fat levels in the sun-dried product we re 94.3 g kg(-1), 110.9 g kg(-1), 698.0 g kg(-1) and 91.4 g kg(-1), re spectively. About 75% of the total protease activity of the chicken in testine was found in mucosal layer. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science B.V.