Short Communication
Plant poisonings in livestock in Brazil and South Africa
Journal of the South African Veterinary Association | Vol 86, No 1 | a1200 |
DOI: https://doi.org/10.4102/jsava.v86i1.1200
| © 2015 Mary-Louise Penrith, Christo J. Botha, Royden C. Tustin
| This work is licensed under CC Attribution 4.0
Submitted: 04 July 2014 | Published: 25 March 2015
Submitted: 04 July 2014 | Published: 25 March 2015
About the author(s)
Mary-Louise Penrith, Department of Veterinary Tropical Diseases, University of Pretoria, South Africa; TAD Scientific CC, Menlo Park, South AfricaChristo J. Botha, Department of Paraclinical Sciences, University of Pretoria, South Africa
Royden C. Tustin, Department of Veterinary Tropical Diseases, University of Pretoria, South Africa
Abstract
Information on intoxication of livestock by plants in Brazil, in terms of cause, clinical signs and pathology, is compared with information on livestock poisoning by plants in South Africa. Plant poisoning, including mycotoxicosis, is considered to be one of three major causes of death in livestock in Brazil, which is one of the top beef producing countries in the world, with a cattle population of more than 200 million. Cattle production in South Africa is on a more modest scale, but with some 600 species of plants and fungi known to cause toxicity in livestock, as opposed to some 130 species in Brazil, the risk to livestock in South Africa appears to be much greater. The comparisons discussed in this communication are largely restricted to ruminants.
Keywords
Brazil; livestock; plant poisoning; ruminants; South Africa
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