Cyanogenic Forage poisoning in Cattle herd and its Clinical management

When cyanogen level in the plant exceeds 20 mg per 100 g (200 ppm, 200mg/kg) of forage, liver enzymes gets exhausted and HCN starts accumulating in the animal body and those plants are potentially toxic to animals. When the cyanide level becomes 0.5–3 mg/kg body weight (depends on the animal), toxic symptoms starts appearing which may end up in death of the animal. The article reports about cows that had accidentally poisoned with cyanogenic forage, the animals were treated with Sodium nitrite, which is effective in convert haemoglobin to methaemoglobin, which inturn reacts with cyanide (prussic acid) to form cyanomethaemoglobin. A simulatenous injection of sodium thiosulfate provides sulfur to convert cyanomethaemoglobin to non-toxic thiocyanate, which is excreted in the urine. This paper presents the successful treatment of cyanide toxicity in crossbred cattle.