Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: http://repositorio.ufla.br/jspui/handle/1/57501
Title: Nitrate/nitrite poisoning in dairy cattle from the Midwestern Minas Gerais, Brazil
Other Titles: Intoxicação por nitrato/nitrito em bovinos leiteiros da região Centro-Oeste de Minas Gerais
Keywords: Cattle diseases
Plant poisoning
Pennisetum purpureum
Soil fertilization
Doenças de bovinos
Intoxicação por plantas
Adubação
Issue Date: 2012
Publisher: Universidade Federal de Santa Maria
Citation: GONTIJO, D. A.; BORGES, A. A.; WOUTERS, F. Nitrate/nitrite poisoning in dairy cattle from the Midwestern Minas Gerais, Brazil. Ciência Rural, Santa Maria, v. 47, n. 12, 2012.
Abstract: In a rural property of the Midwestern Minas Gerais, Brazil, three 2.5 to 3-year-old female bovines (7/8 Holstein x 1/8 Gir) weighing approximately 380kg died after showing brownish colored mucosa of conjunctiva and vaginal vestibule, gray-bluish tongue, dyspnea, sialorrhea, tympany, and progression to sternal decubitus and death. In the macroscopic evaluation of one of the bovines, dark (chocolate-colored) blood of difficult coagulation, and intensely cherry-red skeletal and cardiac musculature were observed. Beyond that were observed brownish lungs, kidneys, liver, and encephalon, and all the stomach compartments were dilated due to large amounts of gas. In addition, the carcass exhaled a nitrous odor. The diphenylamine test and the nitrate dosage in the forage (Pennisetum purpureum, “elephant grass”, Napier grass cultivar) used in feeding the bovines showed a high concentration of nitrate, allowing the diagnosis of nitrate/nitrite intoxication. The main factors leading to the poisoning were attributed to excessive fertilization of grass with bovine manure, the occurrence of a drought period followed by a rainy season, lack of adaptation of the bovines to a nitrate-rich diet, and a diet composed almost exclusively of elephant grass. This is the first report of spontaneous nitrate/nitrite poisoning in cattle in southeastern Brazil.
URI: http://repositorio.ufla.br/jspui/handle/1/57501
Appears in Collections:DMV - Artigos publicados em periódicos

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