Oak (Quercus leucotrichophora) foliage toxicity in guinea pigs Kurade N.P.1,*, Bhat T.K.1, Sharma O.P.1, Singh Birbal1 1Regional Station, Indian Veterinary Research Institute, Palampur-176061, Himachal Pradesh, India *Corresponding author; e-mail: npkurade@yahoo.co.in
Abstract The toxicity due to experimental feeding of oak (Quercus leucotrichophora) foliage at 5, 10, 20 and 40 % levels was studied in guinea pigs for 30 days. The animals in 5 and 10 % groups did not show any significant changes in body weight and feed consumption, haematological and plasma biochemical parameters. The feeding of oak foliage (OF) at 20 and 40 % levels resulted in mortality of 33.3 and 50 % animals, respectively. There was a significant reduction in body weight of 40 % OF fed group, as compared to body weight of pre-fed and control guinea pigs. The animals died from the 20 and 40% OF fed groups had reduced feed consumption from second day onwards and developed anaemia, emaciation, severe enteritis, gastric dilatation, severe hepatic congestion, and tubular epithelial sloughing and dilatation in kidneys. The other animals from these groups also developed variable degree of above described lesions. Based on clinical, haematological, plasma biochemical and pathological findings, OF feeding at 10 % level was found safe, with minimum untoward effects on guinea pigs. The pathological changes in guinea pigs consuming a considerable amount of diet containing 20 and 40 % OF were comparable to those reported in cattle that died due to oak toxicosis. Top Keywords Foliage, Guinea pig, Oak, Quercus leucotrichophora, Tannins, Toxicity. Top |