Degradation of Oestrogen and an Oestrogen-like Compound in Chicken Faeces by Bacteria

Oestrogen-like compounds with biological activities are commonly chemical additives, which have been added into chicken feed for years. Large amount of oestrogen and oestrogen-like compounds were also found in chicken faeces. We believe that such compounds are incorporated into agricultural products as faeces are used in food production process as fertilizer, and they will influence human health. Biodegradation is an environment-friendly, economical way to reduce environmental disruption by oestrogen. In order to degrade oestrogen, we chose 11 bacterial strains that could exhibit high degradation activity against steroid compounds. Oestradiol (E2) and ethynyloestradiol (an artificial oestradiol-like compound; EE2) in chicken faeces were degraded by the bacteria and were detected by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). The results show that a mixture of oestrogen-degrading bacteria exhibited higher rate of degradation than each of the 11 bacteria did individually. Therefore, we cultured the mixture of 11 bacteria with chicken faeces. An oestrogen-like compound found in chicken feed and faeces could be also degraded by the bacteria.