Effects of Acanthospermum hispidum on goats

Goats were fed with fresh or dry A. hispidum at the rates of 5 and 10 g per kg per day for periods up to 38 days. The main signs of poisoning were jaundice, diarrhoea, weakness of the hind limbs and debility. The lesions consisted of necrosis and portal fibroplasia in the liver, dilatation and degeneration of the kidney tubules, atrophy of the testes, pulmonary haemorrhage and oedema and splenic haemosiderosis. These changes were accompanied by increases in the concentrations of aspartate aminotransferase, ammonia and bilirubin and decrease in the levels of total protein and calcium in the serum. Haematological changes indicated the development of haemolytic anaemia.