Preliminary investigation of suspected plant poisoning in the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine farm, Kabete, Kenya

Abstract

An investigation on vegetation was carried out in one grazing paddock of the University of Nairobi, Veterinary Farm to establish the species of plants present and whether some were known to be poisonous. This investigation was carried out after reported cases of young dairy cattle manifesting signs of acute toxicity shortly after being grazed in this paddock. A check-list of the floristic composition of the site was exhaustively recorded and thirty two plant species were collected from the site. Five out of thirty two plants were suspected to be the possible cause of this poisoning as they have been reported before to have toxic effects. These were botanically identified as Ranunculus multifidus Forsk, Cassia didymobotrya Fres, Ricinus communis L., Datura stramonium L. and Momordica foetida Schum. It is concluded that some of these plants may be responsible for the poisoning and further studies on their level of toxicity and distribution in the farm needs to be determined.