Nicotinic Acid and the Level of Protein Intake in the Nutrition of the Pig

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Abstract
Observations in sixty-one pigs are described in which the effects of low and high protein diets supplemented with thiamine, riboflavin, pyridoxine, choline, pantothenic acid, inositol, and p-aminobenzoic acid, with and without nicotinic acid, are compared. Young pigs fed a high protein (26.1% casein) diet supplemented with the-first five vitamins named above, and not furnished with nicotinic acid, showed no signs of nutritional deficiency except for slightly less satisfactory growth in certain instances. When the protein content of the diet was low (10% casein) the omission of nicotinic acid from the diet was associated with the development of signs of nutritional deficiency (markedly impaired growth, rough coats, diarrhea, poor appetite and severe anemia). Only in the last mentioned pigs was there a marked and consistent reduction in the urinary excretion of nicotinic acid derivatives. There appears to be a close nutritional relationship between protein and nicotinic acid.