Feeding behavior preferences in livestock can be modified to implement a grazing management plan in woody crops. Here, we present a protocol to show a lithium chloride dose after eating a new plant that induces conditioned taste aversion.
Conditioned taste aversion (CTA) is a learning behavior process where animals are trained to reject certain feed after gastrointestinal discomfort has been produced. Lithium chloride (LiCl) is the preferred agent used in livestock to induce CTA because it specifically stimulates the vomit center. In addition, LiCl is commercially available, and easy to prepare and administer using a drenching gun. Nevertheless, some factors have to be considered to obtain an effective long-lasting CTA, which allows small ruminants to graze during the cropping season. A key aspect is to use animals with no previous contact with the target plant (the plant chosen to be avoided; new feed). Due to their native neophobic feeding behavior, small ruminants can easily associate the negative feedback effects with the new feed, resulting in a strong and persistent CTA. The recommended doses are 200 and 225 mg LiCl/kg body weight (BW) for goats and sheep, respectively. To induce CTA, 100 g of the target plant should be individually offered for at least 30 min, and LiCl administered thereafter if the intake is greater than 10 g. Each time the animal eats the target plant without negative consequences, the CTA becomes weaker. Consequently, to minimize the risk of target plant consumption, it is essential to have sufficient palatable ground cover available. The presence of an alternative feed (of quality and quantity) prevents the accidental consumption of the target plant. A close monitoring of the flock is recommended to remove and re-dose any animal consuming more than 4 bites or 10 g of the target plant. At the beginning of each grazing season, check the CTA status of each animal before moving them to the crop.
The use of ground cover between woody crop lines mitigates soil erosion and degradation and increases water, organic carbon and nitrogen retention1-3. Additionally, ground cover maintains and increases biodiversity, supporting the balance between crop pests and their natural predators. Farmers tend to eliminate weeds by applying agrochemical products or using a reaper machine; thus reducing nutrient competition between crops and green cover. A cost effective way to control ground cover would be the use of small ruminant grazing. An additional benefit from animal grazing is the improvement in soil health and fertility. However, farmers are reluctant to implement this practice due to small ruminants damaging the crops by consuming young leaves and sprouts.
To prevent potential crop damage it is useful to induce conditioned taste aversion (CTA) in the sheep or goats within the flock or herd. The CTA is easily established for new feeds, due to the innate feed neophobia behavior4,5 of small ruminants, and because familiar feeds are positively associated with a "learned safety" status which is more difficult to change or manipulate6. Animals learn to reject a specific feed (conditioned stimulus) due to its negative post-ingestive effect (unconditioned stimulus). To induce CTA towards palatable and non-toxic plants, lithium chloride (LiCl; inductor agent) is orally administered after the animal consumes the target plant. While there are others inductor agents (e.g. apomorphine, ciclosphosphamide, thiabendazole), LiCl showed the strongest and most persistent CTA due to its effect on the emetic system by stimulation of the chemoreceptor trigger zone area and gastrointestinal distress7,8 with mild signs of general discomfort. Lithium (Li) is absorbed from the upper gastrointestinal tract and distributed in the total body water space9. The animals can have a recovery period as short as two days7,10,11.
The LiCl can be administered by mixing it with the food12,13, in a gelatin capsule13,14 or in a solution administered orally by a drenching gun15-17. Although LiCl solution is caustic, no injury in mouth or esophagus was described. LiCl is used in the range of 100 to 400 mg LiCl/kg of body weight (BW), with better results (more persistent CTA) using higher doses16,18. Nevertheless, considering the known dosage effects towards different species and breeds, the lethal effect in some cases start at 400 mg LiCl/kg BW. The recommended dosage for an effective long-term CTA begins at 200 mg/kg BW for goats and 225 mg/kg BW for sheep10,17,19. Li used at these dosages is excreted within the first 4 days post-administration, mainly through urine (92 ± 4%), followed by feces (6.5 ± 1.3%) and milk (2.8 ± 0.4%)11. The complete estimated withdrawal period for a single dose of LiCl in plasma is 9 and 11 days for sheep and goats, respectively. Due to the minimal Li excretion in milk, CTA cannot be naturally established in the suckling off-spring11,20.
Long-term CTA persistence in sheep has been reported throughout an entire grazing season (3-4 months) when an alternative forage source was available14,21, being re-established to an almost complete aversion with a single LiCl dose at the next grazing season (9 months later)14. Moreover, CTA persistences of 2 and 3 years have been reported in cows under pasture conditions, without the need for reinforcement doses, when the target feed is a toxic but palatable plant22,23. The option of considering an alternative feed is critical for the animal to maintain the CTA against a non-toxic plant. Each time the animal consumes more than 10 g of the averted plant without resulting in gastrointestinal discomfort, the CTA would be compromised24.
The protocol described below for inducing CTA towards woody crops follows the animal care guidelines of the "Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona" (Bellaterra, Spain) and is approved by the Ethical Committee of Animal and Human Experimentation for sheep and goats (CEEAH, references 770 and 998 respectively).
1. Preparation of LiCl Dose
LiCl dose | Mazorra et al. (2006)19 | Burritt et al. (2013)35 |
Low | 100 | 125 |
Medium | 150 | 150 |
High | 225 | 175 |
Table 1: LiCl dosage range. Range of LiCl doses (mg/kg Body Weight, BW) used by different authors to induce feed aversion.
2. Animal Selection and Facilities
3. Aversion Induction
4. Aversion Validation
5. Pasture Management
Note: The dose of LiCl used to induce CTA is completely excreted in a few days, mainly by urine.
6. Re-establishing the CTA
The results described below were obtained by several studies in CTA toward woody crops in small ruminants conducted at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona and they provide evidence to establish the protocol proposed.
Doses of 175 and 200 mg LiCl/kg BW in goats and 200 and 225 mg LiCl/kg BW in sheep were successfully used to induce CTA against woody crops with a single administration, with the exception of two animals which did not completely swallow the administered LiCl dose10,17 (Table 2). Most CTA animals showed dropped heads, inactivity and decreased intake of the basal diet the day after LiCl administration10,11,17; however, animals overcame these signs of gastrointestinal discomfort within 2 days10,11. For all the doses used, the typical CTA behavior observed was that the animals refused to approach the feeding boxes, sniffed the plant material and rejected to eat or consumed <10 g of the target feed10,17. In addition, differences between doses for each species were detected regarding the long-term persistence and the number of animals needing a reinforcing LiCl dose in the short-term. Animals which had received the lower dose (175 and 200 mg LiCl/kg BW for goats and sheep, respectively) showed shorter complete CTA persistence (intake of the target feed <10 g) and more animals needed to be reinforced to strengthen the CTA. Goats receiving the same LiCl dose (200 mg/kg BW) as sheep for inducing CTA against olive tree leaves, showed a longer complete CTA persistence17. On the other hand, CTA persistence differed by breed (Lacaune, Manchega and Ripollesa sheep breeds) using the 200 mg LiCl/kg BW but not when the 225 mg LiCl/kg BW dose was used10.
Although a single LiCl dose induced a complete CTA against a novel feed (i.e., olive tree leaves or grapevine leaves and sprouts), it was not enough to induce CTA against a familiar feed (i.e., concentrate and hay). Sheep which received a LiCl dose to induce CTA against concentrate only showed a slight decrease in the target feed intake compared to the control group on the following day (Figure 1). In addition, the repeated LiCl administration (up to 3 doses on consecutive days) during the learning period was not effective to induce CTA against the familiar feed30.
The CTA induced against grapevine leaves with a 225 mg LiCl/kg BW single dose was complete (intake <10 g) through the first year (Figure 2). Nevertheless, during the following 2 years a re-enforcing dose was necessary to strengthen the CTA when ewes resumed consumption of the target feed. The CTA became weaker when the ground cover availability was scarce during the grazing season. A flock of 6 CTA ewes grazing (11 days; 24 hr/day) on a commercial vineyard plot (8.8 acres) with spontaneous ground cover reduced grass cover by 44 ± 4% (dry matter basis), leaving on the ground the more fibrous and less nutritive parts of the plants (Table 3)31.
A herd of 5 goats maintained an effective CTA (intake of the target feed markedly lower than the control group) against olive trees through 14 months after aversion was induced with a 200 mg LiCl/kg BW. A pasture trial of 30 min in a commercial olive grove (a plot of 156 m2 with spontaneous grass cover and 5 olive trees) showed that CTA goats spent 3.1% of the pasture trial time in contact with the olive trees (behavior of sampling, smelling or contact could not be distinguished in the video recorded), whereas control goats spent 50.7%32.
Figure 1: Familiar vs. Novel feed in CTA. Intake of the target feed after a single LiCl dose (225 mg/kg Body Weight, BW) to induce CTA against a familiar or a novel feed in the averted (CTA) and control (C) ewes. Please click here to view a larger version of this figure.
Figure 2: CTA persistence after LiCl administration. Group intake of grapevine leaves during the first year after inducing conditioned taste aversion (CTA). (, Control Lacaune; , CTA Lacaune; , Control Manchega; , CTA Manchega). Please click here to view a larger version of this figure.
Species | N | LiCl dose | Target feed | Success ratio, %1 |
Goat | 5 | 175 mg/kg BW | Olive tree | 100 (5/5) |
Goat | 10 | 200 mg/kg BW | Olive tree | 90 (9/10) |
Sheep | 20 | 200 mg/kg BW | Olive tree | 95 (19/20) |
Sheep | 15 | 225 mg/kg BW | Olive tree | 100 (15/15) |
Sheep | 44 | 225 mg/kg BW | Grapevine | 100 (44/44) |
1Proportion of CTA induced animals with a single LiCl dose. |
Table 2: CTA success ratio. Proportion of success for inducing conditioned taste aversion against woody crops with single doses of 175, 200 and 225 mg LiCl/kg Body Weight (BW) for goat and sheep.
Item, % | Before grazing | After grazing | P-value |
Dry matter | 28.6 ± 1.4 | 45.9 ± 5.8 | 0.066 |
Crude protein | 11.4 ± 1.2 | 7.8 ± 0.5 | 0.071 |
Crude fiber | 29.5 ± 0.9 | 35.1 ± 1.5 | 0.046 |
Neutral detergent fiber | 46.2 ± 4.4 | 57.6 ± 3.0 | 0.077 |
Acid detergent fiber | 28.0 ± 2.7 | 35.9 ± 2.5 | 0.041 |
Lignin acid detergent | 4.2 ± 0.8 | 6.2 ± 1.1 | 0.075 |
Ash | 8.9 ± 0.3 | 9.1 ± 0.5 | 0.788 |
Table 3: Ground cover chemical composition. Chemical composition (dry matter basis) of spontaneous ground cover of a commercial vineyard before and after grazing by averted ewes.
The CTA is easily established in small ruminants if the target feed is a plant which the animal has never eaten before and does not contain an irreplaceable nutrient. Animals have a positive post-ingestive association with a non-toxic feed unless previous contact makes it difficult to change their perception of that particular feed7,33. The condition taste aversion is produced because LiCl stimulates the emetic system producing malaise or gastrointestinal discomfort34. It has been established that animals consuming LiCl increased rates of respiration, showed head and ear droop, occasionally they would kick themselves in the stomach25, and show decreased milk production20 and food and water intake11. However, these signs were overcome in a few days (2 to 4 days)11,20.
The protocol can be slightly modified according to other CTA studies. Although we indicated that the LiCl should be administered immediately after consumption of the target feed, animals were able to associate intake with sickness within the first 4 hr post-administration24. However, it is important to offer the target feed alone and temporarily separate (at least 1 hr after administration24) from other feeds; such as the basal diet, to prevent cross-CTA. Although we can choose one of the doses indicated in Table 1, we have to consider that those studies did not evaluate long term CTA (<1 year), only the short-term (4 days)35 and mid-term CTA (3 months)19. The use of adult animals is recommended due to young temperament in small ruminants which negatively affect the intensity and persistence of the CTA4.
Some key aspects have to be considered to obtain a successful CTA. Although the drenching gun is routinely used for deworming, the LiCl solution has to be applied with a higher volume than that of anthelmintic drugs (average 40 ml/animal). It is important to choose the correct size of the drenching gun, keep the gun in good condition (clean and lubricated) and carefully administer to the animal. To maintain the long-term aversion it is also important that the green cover is of high quality and palatable for the animals in order to avoid the erratic consumption of the target plant. It is stressed that the aversion becomes weaker every time the animal samples the averted food without suffering negative consequences25,36. CTA might be difficult to establish in a flock of small ruminants if they live in an area where the predominant crop is the target plant (e.g., vineyards, orange trees). One of the reasons for this is that previous contact with the target plant might occur when animals graze or are fed pruning waste in shelter. The solution could be to bring animals from other regions or raise the replacement stock without contact with the target plant.
In the last few years, farmers have been encouraged to implement more sustainable farming techniques due to societal demands. The CTA methodology proposed would change the use of tilling tools or herbicides to a system with small grazing animals. An additional benefit with grazing small ruminants is an increase of pasture surface available since the cultivated lands were forbidden from grazing animals in the past. Mixing grazing animals and crop production enables farmers to obtain a higher value product while improving soil quality.
The authors have nothing to disclose.
This work is part of a CICYT research project (AGL 2010-22178) of the Spanish Ministry of Science and Technology. The authors are grateful to Nic Aldam and Kristi Prunty for the English revision of the manuscript.
Lithium Chloride PRS | Panreac | 141392.1209 | Different amounts of same product can be supplied by the same company. |
Labelvage drencher 70 mL | Labelvage | 240040 | Similar product can be used (different brand or volume). |