10.22376/ijpbs.2019.10.1.p1-12 Volume 4 Issue 1 2013 (January - March) Two novel feather-degrading fungi belonging to lessThan i greaterThan Chrysosporium and Microsporum lessThan /i greaterThan genus were isolated from poultry waste in Goa, India. The fungi produced extra cellular keratinolytic enzyme in a feather meal broth using chicken feather as a sole of carbon and nitrogen source. Maximum enzyme activity was obtained within 96 h (150 U/ml and 90 U/ml for lessThan i greaterThan Chrysosporium and Microsporum lessThan /i greaterThan respectively) of cultivation at pH 7.0, 30 lessThan sup greaterThan o lessThan /sup greaterThan C. The optimal conditions for the keratinolytic activity of both enzymes were found to be pH 9.0 and temperature 50°; however the enzymes showed stability over a broad range of pH between 7.0 -10 and temperature 30°C - 70°C. In addition, both the strains were able to completely degrade feather within a period of 96 h. R. KANCHANA Feather, feather degradation, keratinase, keratinolytic activity, poultry wastes 117-126