Toxicity of Senecio jacobaea and pyrrolizidine alkaloids in various laboratory animals and avian species.

The chronic toxicity of tansy ragwort (Senecio jacobaea) to several herbivorous laboratory animals and to chicks and turkey poults was examined by feeding the dried plant as a component of a mixed diet. Gerbils, hamsters and guinea pigs were resistant to chronic toxicity. Gerbils were highly resistant, consuming over 3500% of their body weight of the dried plant, whereas susceptible species succumb to a tansy ragwort intake of 5-20% of their body weight. Guinea pigs and gerbils were resistant to acute toxicity of injected monocrotaline, a pyrrolizidine alkaloid (PA). They were moderately resistant to acute toxicity of injected tansy ragwort alkaloids. Both chicks and turkey poults were susceptible to chronic toxicity of dietary tansy ragwort.