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Gossypol toxicity in preruminant calves
Author(s) -
ZELSKI RZ,
ROTHWELL JT,
MOORE RE,
KENNEDY DJ
Publication year - 1995
Publication title -
australian veterinary journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.382
H-Index - 59
eISSN - 1751-0813
pISSN - 0005-0423
DOI - 10.1111/j.1751-0813.1995.tb06180.x
Subject(s) - gossypol , toxicity , toxicology , biology , physiology , zoology , medicine , biochemistry
SUMMARY Twenty‐four of 57 calves fed a diet containing 33% cotton seed meal (CSM) died between 7 and 15 weeks of age. Initial deaths were not accompanied by premonitory signs, but after CSM withdrawal most calves developed rough coats, anorexia, weakness, ascites and subcutaneous oedema. Those that died had large volumes of serous fluid in the body cavities, hard livers of ‘nutmeg’ appearance, and pulmonary congestion. Histopathologically the livers showed periacinar necrosis in acute cases and periacinar fibrosis in chronic cases. Lungs from several calves had oedema, haemosiderosis and fibrosis in some pulmonary vessels. Atrophy of myocardial fibres was present in most cases. The concentration of free gossypol in the diet was 100 to 220 mg/kg. Ante‐mortem and post‐mortem findings supported a diagnosis of gossypol poisoning. The deaths continued for 4 weeks after withdrawal of CSM from the diet.