Understanding and Mitigating the Adverse Effects of Poisonous Plants on Livestock Production Systems

Objective 1: Develop and implement novel management protocols for establishing improved forage species on sites infested with known poisonous plants to reduce the risk of livestock mortality and morbidity, improve livestock performance, and improve rangeland resiliency and diversity. Specifically, develop science-based guidelines for grazing livestock on rangelands infested with Lupinus, Senecio, Delphinium and swainsonine and selenium-containing plants. Objective 2: Reduce the risks of livestock losses due to variations in quantitative and qualitative differences in toxin accumulation over time and plant species by quantifying the influence of endophytes, climate changes, and genotype on plant toxin accumulation (particularly swainsonine-containing plants and Delphinium and Lupinus species). Objective 3: Enhance feed and food safety by improving risk assessment and diagnosis of plant-induced poisoning to livestock by improving analytical methods for analyzing plant and animal tissues for toxins; measuring toxicokinetics, assessing carcinogenic and genotoxic potential, and identifying toxin metabolites and biomarkers of toxicoses. Objective 4: Develop improved procedures with guidelines for diagnostic and prognostic evaluation to reduce negative impacts of poisonous plants on livestock reproduction and embryo/fetal growth by improving early identification of poisoned animals, predicting poisoning outcomes, and management and treatment options through improved understanding of clinical, morphological and molecular alterations of plant-induced toxicosis. Objective 5: Develop guidelines to aid producers and land managers in making genetic-based herd management decisions to improve livestock performance and safety on grazed rangelands infested with poisonous plants through the use of identified animal genes, physiological pathways, and molecular mechanisms of action that underlie Conium, Cicuta, Delphinium, Lupinus, and Nicotiana, and other neurotoxic plant effects.