The heat of combustion of the urine of sheep and cattle in relation to its chemical composition and to diet

1. The results of over 500 determinations of the heat of combustion of the urine produced by cattle and sheep have been analysed statistically. 2. The analytical errors for nitrogen, carbon and heat of combustion were ±0.54, ±1.4 and ±2.2%. The error attached to an estimate of the heat of combustion of the urine produced by an individual sheep in 4 days was ± 10%.3. At the maintenance level of feeding, the heat of combustion of the urine (U kcal/ 100 kcal food) was related to the crude protein content of the diet (P%)by the equation

U = 0.25P+1.6

with a residual standard deviation of ±0.88 kcal/100 kcal.4. Regression analysis of the relation between the heat of combustion of urine and its N content showed significant differences with diet. The heat of combustion of the urine of sheep was 9.7 kcal/g C and of cattle 10.3 kcal/g C, and did not vary with diet. 5. It is shown that the variation in the heat of combustion of urine/g N and its relative constancy/g C arises largely from variation, from diet to diet, in the proportion of the N excreted as hippurate. 6. The results have been combined with the results of a similar analysis (Blaxter & Clapperton, 1965) of methane production by sheep to show that the ratio of metabolizable energy to digested energy varies very little from mean values of 0.82 for roughages, 0.85 for cereals and 0.79 for oilseed cakes and meals.

Urinary excretion of hippuric acid by man

A simplified scheme for interpretation of urinary hippuric acid excretion data in terms of consecutive irreversible first-order processes is presented. The rate of excretion of endogenous hippuric, uric, and glucuronic acids is constant under the conditions of the experiments. The average value for the excretion constant KE for exogenous hippuric acid has been determined to be 2.7 hr-1 (0.0452 min-1) for doses of sodium hippurate ranging from 1 to 4 mEq. The average Ks for synthesis of hippurate from benzoate is 10.5 hr-1 (0.175 min-1) for doses of sodium benzoate ranging from 1 to 4 mEq. Study of 17 patients with varying degrees of renal disease as confirmed by standard p-aminohippurate and inulin clearances indicates that the determination of KE may be of value in the study of renal function, particularly where standard clearance techniques are not available. Preliminary data indicate that Ks may be useful in the study of the delay in synthesis of hippurate from benzoate that has been observed in some cases of liver pathology.

Submitted on August 29, 1960