EQUINE VETERINARY EDUCATION / AE / MAY 2019


237


a)


c)


b)


d)


Fig 1: a) Skin lesions around the nares. b) Oral mucosal ulcers. c) Skin lesions in the inguinal region. d) Rectal prolapse.


the present episode. On post-mortem examinations, lesions related to parasitic damage, systemic granulomatous disease, suppurative cholangitis, amyloidosis, neoplasia or cholelithiasis were not found. Investigation of the feeding history of the last 3–4 years


revealed that the feeding of pearl millet as dry and green fodder to the horses had increased steadily. Clinical cases of liver cirrhosis began to appear after 1 year of inclusion of pearl millet fodder in significant amounts. All the adult horses at the farm were losing body weight, and growth of younger horses was retarded. These phenomena led to suspicion of the presence of mycotoxins in the feed/fodder again;


therefore, fodder crops of pearl millet and sorghum in the field were screened once more. It was found that 2–5% of the flowers of pearl millet were infested with black-coloured


fungus and ergot. Pearl millet was being fed to horses after chaffing the complete plant along with the seeds and fruits. To estimate the level of mycotoxins in the pearl millet fodder, plants were randomly selected from six areas of two square metres each, dried in an oven, powdered and sent to the laboratory in sealed polythene packs. Samples of other feed and fodder, such as concentrate feed, sewan grass straw and sorghum were collected and sent to Animal Feed Analytical and Quality Assurance Laboratory, Veterinary College and Research Institute, Namakkal, Tamil Nadu, India, to estimate mycotoxin levels. Levels of aflatoxin-B1 in six samples were 12 ppb, 50 ppb, 25 ppb, 12 ppb, 12 ppb, 12 ppb and those of aflatoxin-B2 were 12 ppb, 20 ppb, 20 ppb, nil, nil, nil, respectively (Table 4). Out of six samples of pearl millet, four samples exhibited aflatoxins above the FDA-


TABLE 1: Clinical signs in horses that died due to cirrhosis/ mycotoxicosis


Signs Decreased appetite


Progressive behavioural changes Progressive loss of body weight Diarrhoea


Ulcerative lesions in oral cavity Lesions around mucocutaneous junctions of lips


Itching (rubbing of mouth and jaw area on various wooden objects)


Absence of blood clotting in plain blood tubes Mildly yellowish mucous membranes Yawning


Lesions on vaginal mucous membranes Lesions between hind legs


Sudden onset of ataxia, weakness, dyspnoea, neurological signs and temporary recovery after treatment with adrenalin, chlorpheniramine maleate and dextrose fluid therapy Nocardial infection


Congestion of ocular mucous membrane Icteric vaginal mucous membranes Dystocia and retained fetal membranes Rectal prolapse Sudden death


Unclotted blood on post-mortem examination


No. of. Animals


18 18 18 2


18 18 18


18 8 8 6 2 4


1


20 1 3 2 2


20 Hepatic cirrhosis on histopathology of necropsy samples 20


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