Change in European Forage and Fodder Plant Indicator Sets over the Past 250 Years

Kotowski, Marcin; Kotowska, Dorota; Biró, Marianna; Babai, Dániel; Sharifian, Abolfazl; Szentes, Szilárd; Łuczaj, Łukasz; Molnár, Zsolt

doi:10.1016/j.rama.2023.02.010

Cited by 3 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 59 publications

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“…These issues (toxicological focus, neglected case details, missing context) make it difficult to be aware of the outer circumstances under which the species-specific relationship between plants and herbivorous animals fails such as the kind and quality of feed plant species available on the pasture, the composition of the vegetation, or the presence of certain developmental stages of poisonous and feed plants. Therefore, animal keepers would emphasize rather incalculable dangers than the mutual benefits of grazing for both husbandry animals [25] and agricultural landscapes [26]. To evaluate the risks for animals on pastures, evidence-based data from everyday practice need to be compiled.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Although goats "nibbled" creeping buttercup (Ranunculus repens), lesser celandine (R. ficaria), and bachelor's buttons (R. aconitifolius) [46], they avoided lesser spearwort (R. flammula) [26].…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Persicaria/Polygonum: "[c]attle, sheep, and goats eat Polygonum bistorta willingly, while horses avoid it (Wy życki 1845)" [26]. Senecio jacobaea: "[s]heep continuously preferred ragwort.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Do Poisonous Plants in Pastures Communicate Their Toxicity? Meta-Study and Evaluation of Poisoning Cases in Central Europe

Aboling

2023

Animals

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One of the possible roles of secondary plant metabolites, including toxins, is facilitating plant–animal communication. Lethal cases of pasture poisoning show that the message is not always successfully conveyed. As the focus of poisoning lies in the clinical aspects, the external circumstances of pasture poisoning are widely unknown. To document poisoning conditions in cattle, sheep, goats, and horses on pastures and to compile a checklist of plants involved in either poisoning or co-existence (zero poisoning), published case reports were evaluated as primary sources. The number of affected animal individuals was estimated within abundance classes from 0 to more than 100. The checklist of poisonous plants comprised 52 taxa. Of these, 13 taxa were deemed safe (no reference was found indicating poisoning), 11 taxa were associated with evidence-based zero poisoning (positive list), and 28 taxa were associated with poisoning (negative list). Nine plant taxa caused poisoning in more than 100 animal individuals. Zero poisoning accounted for 40% and poisoning accounted for 60% of a total of 85 cases. Poisoning was most often associated with a limited choice of feed (24.7%), followed by overgrazing (12.9%), seasonally scarce feed (10.6%), and co-ingestion of grass (4.7%). Hunger interferes with plant–animal co-existence, while zero poisoning improves it. In conclusion, poisonous plants in pastures may communicate their toxicity if the animals have enough alternative feed plants. An individual animal might utterly perceive the communication of toxicity by the plant species but be forced to ignore the message owing to a limited choice of feed options.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Do Poisonous Plants in Pastures Communicate Their Toxicity? Meta-Study and Evaluation of Poisoning Cases in Central Europe

Aboling

2023

Animals

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The Recent Spatiotemporal Dynamics of Grasslands in Slovenia: Contribution to Their Preservation and Management

Machado,

Santos,

Sousa-Neves

et al. 2024

Rangeland Ecology & Management

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Are cows pickier than goats? Linnaeus’s innovative large-scale feeding experiment

Carlsson,

Björkman,

Rydin

2024

Biological Journal of the Linnean Society

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In 1749, Linnaeus published Pan Svecicus, a thesis that was defended by his student Nils Hesselgren. The thesis describes food preference trials in cows, goats, sheep, horses, and pigs, and includes 2325 tests with 643 plant species. The data had surprisingly little bearing on the text in the thesis, and even though the experiments quickly became internationally known, the data were merely repeated, rather than discussed. We have digitized the data and linked the species names to modern nomenclature and present the first analysis and discussion of the results. Pigs were most selective (eating 32% of the 204 plant species that were tested on all animals), followed by horses (59%), cows (66%), sheep (82%), and goats (85%). The ruminants (especially goats and sheep) had high overlap in food choice, and the pigs deviated most (despite the fact that pigs are more closely related to the ruminants than are horses). Among plant orders, Fabales and Poales were generally preferred, while Lamiales and Ranunculales were avoided, especially by cows and horses. Cows and horses were also more keen to avoid toxic plant species. All animals showed a preference for species that are today considered nutritious. We now make the data available, for further analyses in ecology, history of science, and other disciplines.

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Change in European Forage and Fodder Plant Indicator Sets over the Past 250 Years

Cited by 3 publications

References 59 publications

Do Poisonous Plants in Pastures Communicate Their Toxicity? Meta-Study and Evaluation of Poisoning Cases in Central Europe

Do Poisonous Plants in Pastures Communicate Their Toxicity? Meta-Study and Evaluation of Poisoning Cases in Central Europe

The Recent Spatiotemporal Dynamics of Grasslands in Slovenia: Contribution to Their Preservation and Management

Are cows pickier than goats? Linnaeus’s innovative large-scale feeding experiment

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