eng Science and Education Publishing Journal of Applied & Environmental Microbiology 2373-6712 2016-01-05 3 5 119 122 10.12691/jaem-3-5-2 JAEM2015352 article Farag M. Saieb 1 Salama A. Boaker 1 Hasham M. El-komy 2 Ahmed Issa aaissaeg@gmail.com, aaissaeg@yahoo.com 3 4 Microbiology Laboratory, Department of Botany, Omar Almukhtar University, El-beida, Libya Department of Botany, Faculty of Science, Minia University, Minia, Egypt Biology Department, Faculty of Science, Taif University, Taif KSA Alginate immobilized Bacillus licheniformis (St. 24) were isolated from chicken feather wastes recorded higher keratinase production than free bacterial suspension. 2-3% alginate concentration, medium pellet size, and in addition of keratin powder as adjuvant were optimum for keratinase production by the immobilized bacteria. Encapsulated B. licheniformis st. 24 was successfully produced keratinase for three repeated batch fermentation cycles each 24 hour incubation period. Immobilization of the whole cells proved to be useful for continuous production of keratinase and feather degradation. http://pubs.sciepub.com/jaem/3/5/2/jaem-3-5-2.pdf Bacillus licheniformis keratinase