Nutritional and industrial applications of broiler chickens feather – a review

Abstract

Broiler chicken feather is one of the greatest protein-containing poultry by-products that has been scantily reused. Nigeria is reported to have the largest population of chickens in Africa. Consequently, enormous quantities of feathers are generated as by-products of the processing of these chickens. These feathers are often dumped at dump sites where they constitute environmental nuisance and thus pollute underground water. Broiler chickens feather has been reported to contain crude protein content of between 82-87% that could be incorporated into diets of broiler chickens as feather meal after subjecting them to appropriate processing procedures such as boiling at high temperature or enzymatic treatment in order to denature its anti-nutrient called keratins. The use of broiler chickens feather as organic fertilizer in crop production and as raw material in the textile industry has also gained relevance, especially in the developed world. This paper, therefore, reviews the nutritional potentials of broiler chickens feather in promoting better meat quality as well as other useful industrial applications that could enhance effective recycling of this major by-product of the poultry industry towards reducing or eliminating environmental pollution with the broiler chicken feathers.