Degradation of tyrosine in anaerobically stored piggery wastes and in pig feces.

Radioactively labeled compounds that might be intermediates in the anaerobic degradation of tyrosine were added to pig feces and to stored piggery wastes. Changes in the compounds were followed by using thin-layer and gas chromatography. In feces, p-cresol and 3-phenylpropionic acid were the end products of tyrosine metabolism; in anaerobically stored mixed wastes, phenol, p-cresol, and minor quantities of phenylpropionic acid were formed. Schemes were proposed for the degradation of tyrosine in pig feces and in mixed wastes.