Documentation of Major Poisonous Plant on Livestock in Ethiopia

The review was conducted with the objective of documenting potentially poisonous plants in Ethiopia. One of the major causes of economic loss in the livestock industry is Poisonous plants especially in the developing country including Ethiopia. In each year poisonous plant affect 3 to 5 percent of the cattle, sheep, goat, and horses that graze ranges. Major loss caused by these plants result from death of livestock, abortions, photosensitization, decreased production, emaciation, and birth defects and also they have other losses due to increased management costs associated with such things as fencing to prevent access of animals to these plants , altered grazing programs, and loss of forage due to removal of these plants. Livestock mostly exposed to toxic plants in dry and early rainy season when feed is in short supply. In this documentation 71 different plants identified from four different area of the country were collected from different governmental and non-governmental organizations and published papers. A more extensive survey is required to document all poisonous plants in the rangelands and to identify the major toxic principles in the different species possibly pharmacological activity. This documentation review the current knowledge on the identity of plants known to have poisoned livestock and research conducted into these toxic plants.