Abstract

The present study reports on the results of the “fungal biodegradation” of “hair waste” in a static solid medium using previously isolated strains of Trichophyton ajelloi and Fusarium oxysporum. The main purpose of the research programme is to upgrade the hair by biodegradation, to consider it as a raw material instead of the current modality of “throwing away” proteins to landfill and to its reuse in agricultural technology, directly or after composting and applying earthworms to generate an organic fertilizer (“vermicompost”).

The fungal activity on the hair gives a degraded organic material and an extract with a pool of proteases with, amongst others, keratinolytic activity,. The enzyme activities expressed by the fungal extract are evaluated against soluble, insoluble, synthetic, and skin protein component substrates. Relationships between the different specific activities are defined to evaluate and predict the possible behaviour of the fungal extracts in the beamhouse processes.