10.22376/ijpbs.2019.10.1.p1-12 Volume 4 Issue 2 2013 (April - June) Poultry industry waste contains a major proportion of feathers, which comprise mainly of keratin.Keratin is an insoluble, fibrous protein, which makes the feathers resistant to proteolytic enzymes. Several microorganisms can carry out the degradation of such complex substrates. The present study exploits the ability of soil bacteria to degrade feather wastes. Bacteria can degrade feather keratin with their enzyme: keratinase. By screening poultry farm soil samples, two feather degrading isolates were obtained which showed degradation of 1% feathers within 7 days. On the biochemical identification and 16S rRNA sequencing, the isolates showed 99% homology with lessThan i greaterThan Bacillus licheniformis lessThan /i greaterThan and lessThan i greaterThan Bacillus subtilis. lessThan /i greaterThan  Medium optimization for maximum enzyme production was performed. The optimized conditions showed significant increase in enzyme production, as determined by the activity i.e. 14.344U/ml/min for lessThan i greaterThan B. licheniformis lessThan /i greaterThan and 12.934U/ml/min for lessThan i greaterThan B. subtilis. lessThan /i greaterThan The study shows the potential of the isolates to carry out eco-friendly disposal of feathers. RADHIKA SUDHIR MEHTA, RIDDHI JAYANT JHOLAPARA AND CHHAYA S. SAWANT Keratinase, Poultry waste, Keratin, Proteolytic enzymes 454-463