Abstract
Waste feathers (WF), major poultry industry by-product, pose health and environmental risks if mismanaged, yet contain valuable protein. Traditional feather protein extraction methods have several limitations: excessive time and energy requirements, low yield, and poor digestibility. This study introduces a novel method using a deep eutectic solvent (DES) to effectively degrade WF into low molecular weight peptides (400-600 Da). This method achieved 79.97 % dissolution rate and 50.26 % extraction yield within 2 h at 92 °C. Critically, in vitro digestion tests showed that the free amino acid release from feather peptides (FP) was 241.08 μg/mL, 63.9 % higher than that from fishmeal (147.06 μg/mL), demonstrating substantially higher digestibility than both standard fishmeal and traditionally processed feathers. This DES-based approach provides an efficient, eco-friendly, and economical route to transform problematic feather waste into a highly digestible and functional animal feed protein, promoting circular economy principles.