Rhododendron simsii poisoning in goats in Southern Brazil

• Main Authors: Sérgio Farias Vargas Junior, Clairton Marcolongo-Pereira, Dênis Halinski-Silveira, Fabiane Borelli Grecco, Margarida Buss Raffi, Ana Lucia Schild, Eliza Simone Viégas Sallis
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Universidade Federal de Santa Maria 2014-07-01
• Series: Ciência Rural
• Subjects: Rhododendron simsii; grayanotoxinas; azaleia; intoxicação; caprinos
• Online Access: http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0103-84782014000701249&lng=en&tlng=en

This study describes the natural poisoning of goats by Rhododendron simsii in Southern Brazil. Five of eight goats died after ingesting branches of plants, which were pruned and placed near the goats. Clinical signs observed were restlessness, shrill bleating, profuse regurgitation, looking and kicking at the flank, a loss of balance, irregular gait, staggering, and opisthotonos. At necropsy or histopathology affected goats had not showed lesions. Two goats were fed with 21.5g kg-1 bw and 30g kg-1 bw of fresh leaves of R. simsii. Both goats developed signs similar to those naturally affected goats. These findings indicated that R. simsii is highly toxic and lethal to goats.