Isolation of biosurfactant producing bacteria from poultry breast skin.

BACKGROUND: Biosurfactants are surface-active compounds produced by some microorganisms.

OBJECTIVES: In this study, we collected surface skin samples from breast of poultry (chicken, turkey, and, quail) and screened for biosurfactant-producing bacteria. We also determined the genera of cultured strains.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: 33 hemolytic bacterial strains (15, 11, and 7 isolates from chicken, turkey, and quail, respectively) were isolated; oil spreading (OS) and bioemulsifying activities were measured for all isolates.

RESULTS: Two isolates of chicken (6.06%), three of turkey (9.1%), and three of quail (9.1%) were positive in all examinations (hemolysis, emulsification index (E24) and oil spreading). In total, eight isolates (24.24%) were positive in all examinations, out of them, seven isolates (87.5%) were gram positives, mainly belonged to Bacillus spp., Staphylococcus spp. and Lactobacillus spp. 31 isolates (93.9%) (out of 33 hemolytic isolates) were positive in oil spreading test while only eight isolates (24.24%) were positive in E24 test.

CONCLUSIONS: The results showed that biosurfactant-producing bacteria are distributed in breast skin surface of examined birds. Further investigation about the composition of biosurfactants and phylogenetic determination of biosurfactant producing bacteria is suggested.