What does this research mean for the field?

In nursery pigs fed crude protein-limited diets, benzoic acid supplementation improves protein digestibility but decreases the biological value of nitrogen due to increased urinary nitrogen output, resulting in no overall change in nitrogen retention. Novelty: ClaimNovelty.INCREMENTAL. Consensus alignment: ConsensusAlignment.NEUTRAL.

What question did this study set out to answer?

To evaluate the impact of increasing dietary benzoic acid supplementation on nitrogen utilization and balance in nursery pigs fed crude protein-limited diets.

September 2, 2026Journal of Animal ScienceOpen Access

Benzoic acid decreases biological value of nitrogen without affecting nitrogen retention in nursery pigs fed crude protein-limited diets

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Authors

PAPaulo H A de AzevedoAuburn University AOAlex OutlawAuburn University JMJonas McAbeeAuburn University

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Implication

Controlled feeding trial reveals that dietary benzoic acid reduces nitrogen biological value in nursery pigs, indicating that metabolic glycine loss counteracts improved protein digestibility.

Key Points

To evaluate the impact of increasing dietary benzoic acid supplementation on nitrogen utilization and balance in nursery pigs fed crude protein-limited diets.
Thirty-six castrated male nursery pigs (initial body weight 14.25 ± 1.22 kg) were individually housed in metabolism crates and assigned to four dietary concentrations of benzoic acid: 0, 5, 10, or 15 g/kg (n = 9 per group).
Pigs were adapted to diets for 7 days, followed by a 7-day collection period where feed intake, total urine output, fecal excretion, and blood samples were obtained for nitrogen, amino acid, benzoic acid, and hippuric acid analyses.
Increasing benzoic acid linearly enhanced apparent total tract digestibility of nitrogen from 89.6% to 94.5% (P < 0.01) and decreased fecal nitrogen output from 1.45 to 0.77 g/d (P < 0.01).
Urinary nitrogen excretion linearly increased from 1.60 to 2.52 g/d (P < 0.01), resulting in unchanged whole-body nitrogen retention while reducing nitrogen biological value from 87.1% to 80.8% (linear, P < 0.01).
Plasma and urinary hippuric acid concentrations and excretion linearly increased, whereas plasma glycine concentrations linearly decreased with higher benzoic acid intake (P < 0.01).

Cite This Study

Azevedo et al. (2026) studied this question.

synapsesocial.com/papers/6a97e318c562ede874ec7aff https://doi.org/10.1093/jas/skag278

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Implication

Controlled feeding trial reveals that dietary benzoic acid reduces nitrogen biological value in nursery pigs, indicating that metabolic glycine loss counteracts improved protein digestibility.

Benzoic acid decreases biological value of nitrogen without affecting nitrogen retention in nursery pigs fed crude protein-limited diets

Discussion

Member takes

Implication

Key Points

Cite This Study

Benzoic acid decreases biological value of nitrogen without affecting nitrogen retention in nursery pigs fed crude protein-limited diets

Discussion

Member takes

Implication

Key Points

Cite This Study

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