Three different groups of large-scale dehairing experiments
viz., conventional lime-sulfide process, enzymeassisted
process using a commercial enzyme and enzymatic
process free of lime and sulfide were carried out. These processes
were represented as negative control, positive control
and experimental groups, respectively (Table 1).
Ten wet-salted goatskins and 10 cowhides, each weighing
approximately 2.5 and 12 kg, respectively, were initially
soaked with water for 6 h employing a float of 300% water.
Prior to dehairing step, all the soaked skins and hides were
cut along the backbone line into two halves namely right
and left, and numbered. The soaked weight of all right
and left halves was noted.