• Weed & Turfgrass Science
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• v.5 no.4
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• pp.260-267
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• 2016

Amino acids in the plant were intermediate metabolites which produced by uptake and assimilation of nitrogen and these extracts which gained by bio-chemical digestion from protein of plant or animal were a source of functional fertilizer. This study was conducted to evaluate effects of keratin amino acid fertilizer (KAF) gained from animal hair or hoof on changes of turfgrass quality and growth by investigating turf color index, chlorophyll index, shoot number, clipping yield, and nutrient content in the turfgrass tissue. Treatments were designed as follows; non-fertilizer (NF), compound fertilizer (CF), keratin amino acid fertilizer treatments [CF + KAF $0.26ml\;m^{-2}$ (CKF), CF + KAF $0.52ml\;m^{-2}$ (2CKF)], and only keratin amino acid fertilizer treatment (KF). Shoot number, clipping yield, and nitrogen uptake of KF were higher than those of CF. As compared with CF, soil chemical properties, turf color index, chlorophyll index and clipping yield of keratin amino acid fertilizer were not significant, but shoot number and uptake of N and K were increased significantly. These results show that the application of keratin amino acid fertilizer increased shoot number and growth by increased uptake of nitrogen and potassium.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.44 no.2
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• pp.200-205
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• 2011

This study was conducted to find the physico-chemical properties and the amino acid content of the pigs hoof hydrolysate, keratin protein and to investigate its fertilizer effect on the growth of crops. The keratin proteins such as pigs hoof were alkali-hydrolyzed to produce the hydrolysates. The chemical properties of the hydrolysate of pigs hoof was 6~7 of pH and $10{\sim}15dS\;m^{-1}$ of EC. Total amino acid contents released from the pigs hoof were 10.18%, respectively. The pot experiment was carried out for the cultivation of lettuce. The treatment design of these pot cultivation was composed of Control (compost + NPK), PHH-0.5, PHH-1.0, PHH-2.0 (${\times}2,000$ ; 1,000 ; 500 diluted solution of pig hoof hydrolysate). After lettuce cultivation, the pH values in all treatment soils were decreased than those in initial soils, and the exchangeable cation value was higher than that of control. In all PHH treatments, lettuce growth was better in the leaf length by 6~16% and the leaf width by 4~15% than in control. Therefore, the PHH solutions manufactured by hydrolysis process had plenty of amino acids, and among them PHH had the most abundant nutrients and amino acids with highest growth and yield effect on lettuce.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.19 no.10
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• pp.1307-1314
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• 2010

This study was conducted to isolate and characterize a novel feather-degrading bacterium producing keratinase activity. A strain K9 was isolated from soil at poultry farm and identified as Xanthomonas sp. K9 by phenotypic characters and 16S rRNA gene analysis. The cultural conditions for the keratinase production were 0.3% fructose, 0.1% gelatin, 0.04% $K_2HPO_4$, 0.06% $KH_2PO_4$, 0.05% NaCl and 0.01% $FeSO_4$ with an initial pH 8.0 at $30^{\circ}C$ and 200 rpm. In an optimized medium containing 0.1% chicken feather, production yield of keratinase was approximately 8-fold higher than the yield in basal medium. The strain K9 effectively degraded chicken feather meal (67%) and duck feather (54%), whereas human nail and human hair showed relatively low degradation rates (13-22%). Total free amino acid concentration in the cell-free supernatant was about 25.799 mg/l. Feather hydrolysate produced by the strain K9 stimulated growth of red pepper, indicating Xanthomonas sp. K9 could be not only used to increase the nutritional value of chicken feather but also a potential candidate for the development of natural fertilizer applicable to crop plant soil.