The readily fermentable carbon sources in swine were acetic acid, propionic acid and butyric acid at the average concentrations of 7.2 g/L, 2.2 g/L and 2.7 g/L, respectively. The swine waste also contained excess nitrogen and other mineral sources. In shake flask experiments, the optimal range of cell growth for Azotobacter vinelandii UWD were 1.0∼3.5 g/L of acetic acid, 0.7∼2.0 g/L of propionic acid and 0.5∼2.0 g/L of butyric acid. A mixture of these three acids simulating two times diluted swine waste supported the best cell growth but the amount of carbon sources was limited. In shake flask and fermentor experiments, an addition of 30 g/L of glucose increased the final cell dry weight 8 times while the final poly (3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyvalerate) (PHBV) concentration increased 86 times compared with using acid mixture only. A. vinelandii UWD preferred organic acids in the sequence of acetic acid, propionic acid, butyric acid, and valeric acid.