Small Ruminant Research 48 (2003) 61–67 Comparative toxicity of Croton macrostachys, Jatropha curcas and Piper abyssinica seeds in Nubian goats W.S. Abdel Gadir, T.O. Onsa, W.E.M. Ali, S.M.A. El Badwi, S.E.I. Adam * Department of Veterinary Medicine, Pharmacology and Toxicology, University of Khartoum, P.O. Box 32, Khartoum North, Sudan Abstract The comparative toxicity of Croton macrostachys, Jatropha curcas and Piper abyssinica seeds was described in Nubian goat kids allotted as untreated controls, C. macrostachys-treated at 1 or 0.25 g/kg per day, J. curcas-treated at 1 or 0.25 g/kg per day and P. abyssinica-treated at 1 or 0.25 g/kg per day. Both oral dose levels of C. macrostachys and J. curcas seeds were lethal for kids between days 7 and 21, and caused bloody diarrhea, dyspnea, dehydration, loss in condition, paresis of the hind limbs and recumbency before death. Lesions in the affected animals included widespread hemorrhages and congestion, enterohepatonephrotoxicity, pulmonary hemorrhage, emphysema and cyanosis, tracheal froths, ascites and hydropericardium. These lesions were accompanied by increases in the activity of serum AST, in the concentration of urea, decreases in total protein and albumin, anemia and leukopenia. The oral dose of 1 g/kg per day for 30 days or 0.25 g/kg per day for 50 days of P. abyssinica seeds was not lethal and caused limited and less pronounced vascular changes and hepatonephropathy. © 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. Keywords: Croton macrostachys; Jatropha curcas; Piper abyssinica; Toxicity; Goats 1. Introduction Different animal species vary in susceptibility to plant poisoning (Humphreys, 1988). For example, Bull et al. (1968) showed that cattle are more suscepti- ble than sheep to pyrrolizidine alkaloids-containing plants, such as Crotalaria spectabilis and Senecio jca- coboea. Adam et al. (1973) and Tartour et al. (1974) found that Ipomoea carnea leaves were more toxic to sheep and goats than cattle. Galal and Adam (1988) and Mahmoud et al. (1979) found that goats and sheep were equally sensitive to Chrozophora plicata leaves and Calotropis procera latex, respectively. * Corresponding author. Present address: Department of Veteri- nary Medicine, College of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine, King Saud University, P.O. Box 1482, Buraydah, Al-Qassim, Saudi Arabia. Fax: +966-6-3801360. E-mail address: seiadam@hotmail.com (S.E.I. Adam). Croton macrostachys, Jatropha curcas and Piper abyssinica are used in the treatment of various disor- ders in man and animals, including goats and sheep, and are also ingested by grazing animals particularly at times of drought. The seeds of the euphorbiaceous plants, C. macrostachys and J. curcas are used as purgatives, anthelmintics and molluscicides (Amin et al., 1972; Dafalla and Amin, 1976) and contain a purging oil, tannins, terpenes and the toxalbumins, crotin and curcin, as predominant constituents (Watt and Breyer-Brandwijk, 1962; Humphreys, 1988). Although the seeds of the plants are also used for the treatment of constipation and helminthoses in goats at single oral doses of 0.25 g/kg (Ahmed, 1978), the toxicity of the plant shoots has not been investigated. P. abyssinica (Piperaceae) is used for the treatment of gastrointestinal disturbances, dysentery and skin 0921-4488/02/$ – see front matter © 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. PII:S0921-4488(02)00181-5