Conditioning taste aversions to locoweed (Oxytropis sericea) in horses

Locoweed (Oxytropis sericea) is a serious poisoning problem for horses grazing on infested rangelands in the western United States. Our objectives were to determine 1) whether lithium chloride or apomorphine would condition aversions to palatable foods, and at what doses, and 2) whether horses could...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of animal science 2002-01, Vol.80 (1), p.79-83
Main Authors: Pfister, J. A, Stegelmeier, B. L, Cheney, C. D, Ralphs, M. H, Gardner, D. R
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animal productions
Animals
Apomorphine - pharmacology
Astragalus Plant - poisoning
Aversive Therapy
Behavior, Animal - physiology
Biological and medical sciences
Cattle
Conditioning (Psychology)
Dose-Response Relationship, Drug
Feeding Behavior - physiology
Food Preferences
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Horse Diseases - prevention & control
Horses - physiology
Horses - psychology
Housing, Animal
Lithium Chloride - pharmacology
Medical sciences
Pesticides, fertilizers and other agrochemicals toxicology
Plant Poisoning - prevention & control
Plant Poisoning - veterinary
Poisoning
Random Allocation
Taste - physiology
Terrestrial animal productions
Toxicology
Vertebrates
Weeds
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Summary:Locoweed (Oxytropis sericea) is a serious poisoning problem for horses grazing on infested rangelands in the western United States. Our objectives were to determine 1) whether lithium chloride or apomorphine would condition aversions to palatable foods, and at what doses, and 2) whether horses could be averted to fresh locoweed in a pen and grazing situation. Apomorphine was not an acceptable aversive agent because at the dose required to condition an aversion (> or = 0.17 mg/kg BW), apomorphine induced unacceptable behavioral effects. Lithium chloride given via stomach tube at 190 mg/kg BW conditioned strong and persistent aversions to palatable feeds with minor signs of distress. Pen and grazing tests were conducted in Colorado to determine if horses could be averted to fresh locoweed. Pen tests indicated that most horses (5/6) were completely averted from locoweed. Treated horses ate 34 g of fresh locoweed compared to 135 g for controls (P < 0.01) during three pen tests when offered 150 g per test. One horse (T) in the treatment group ate locoweed each time it was offered in the pen, but ate no locoweed while grazing. In the grazing trial, control horses averaged 8.6% of bites of locoweed (P < 0.01) during the grazing portion of the study, whereas treated horses averaged
ISSN:0021-8812
1525-3163
DOI:10.2527/2002.80179x