Chapter G: Selenium poisoning in livestock

James, L.F. and Mayland, H.F. and Panter, K.E. (1991) Chapter G: Selenium poisoning in livestock. pp. 73-79. In: Severson, R.C. and Fisher Jr, S.E. and Gough, L.P. (eds.) Proc. of 1990 Billings Land Reclamation Symposium. USA-MT-Billings, 1991/03/25-30.

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Abstract

Selenium in certain soils may be taken up by plants in
amounts sufficient to make forage toxic to animals. Seleniterous
forage can be found in semiarid areas on soils typically
derived from Cretaceous geologic material in the Western
United States and Canada. Intoxication of livestock by seleniterous
plants has been classified as acute or chronic. Acute
poisoning results from consuming plants containing high
selenium concentrations. Chronic selenium poisoning has
been described in two forms: alkali disease and blind staggers.
Alkali disease results from prolonged ingestion of plants
containing, 5-40 ppm selenium in inorganic or organic forms.
Alkali disease causes loss or hair, lameness, weight loss and
probably reduces reproductive efficiency . Blind staggers is said
to result from the consumption or selenium indicator plants.
These plants, in contrast to the nonaccumulators, contain
selenium in water soluble, nonprotein forms. Blind staggers
causes animals to wander, walk in circles, and to have
difficulty in swallowing; in addition, it may cause blindness.
Information is presented that questions the attribution of blind
staggers to selenium toxicosis.

Item Type:	Conference or Workshop Item (Paper)
NWISRL Publication Number:	0743
Additional Information:	**A.K.A NWISRL PUBLICATION 743a**
Subjects:	Animal > Animal health Mass Import - autoclassified (may be erroneous)
Depositing User:	Dan Stieneke
Date Deposited:	20 Nov 2010 21:56
Last Modified:	08 Dec 2016 19:10
Item ID:	908
URI:	https://eprints.nwisrl.ars.usda.gov/id/eprint/908