The ripe pods of Stryphnodendron obovatum Benth. collected in Mato Grosso, were given to seven cows 3 to 7 months in calf, at the dose of 5 g/kg/day, during 9 to 26 days. They caused a disease characterized by decrease in ruminal activity and appetite, salivation, difficulty in getting up, unstable gait, muscular tremors, loss of weight and in 3 of the 7 cows abortion between 20 and 30 days after the beginning of the administration of the pods; a fourth cow expelled a mumified fetus 7 months after the start of the experiment. In the aborted fetuses and in the placentas no significant macroscopic and microscopic lesions were detected. These experiments confirm the informations obtained on farms in the cerrado regions of the States of São Paulo and Mato Grosso, which say that abortion occurs in cows which consume the pods of S. obovatum.
Abortion; Stryphnodendron obovatum; plant poisoning; cattle
