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n-Valeric Acid in Stomachs and on Unwashed Hair of Swine

U. S. Department of Agriculture, Beltsville, Maryland 20705

Abstract

n-Valeric acid occurred irregularly in swine stomach tissues (0 to 82 µg/g) and contents (0 to 189 µg/g). Mean concentrations of the acid in tissues of the anterior parts of the stomach were higher than those in tissues of the posterior parts. In trichinous swine the stomach levels did not correlate well with the diaphragm muscle levels. It occurred in very high levels in the stomachs of some nontrichinous swine. Hair, a material usually found in stomach contents, when clipped from the shoulder region and examined unwashed carried considerable, though not extreme, amounts of the acid (1.7 to 11.7 µg/g).

Literature cited suggests that the major portion of the n-valeric acid in the stomachs arises from the action of the proper microbial flora. Stomach levels are not regarded as controllable by management practices nor related to trichinosis. Presence or absence of stomach n-valeric acid is not likely to influence the diagnosis of the trichinosis by analysis for the acid in diaphragm muscles.

¹ Retired January 21, 1972.

² Veterinary Sciences Research Division. National Animal Parasite Laboratory, Agricultural Research Service.