REVISITING THE TOXICITY OF ARTEMISIA TAURICA (Аrtemisia taurica)

Abstract

Artemisia taurica can grow in very unfavourable soil and climatic conditions.
It is categorized as a poisonous plant, and the essential oil is considered as a toxic principle of
it. Apparently, this makes it impossible to use the plant as a feed. However, there are some
reasons to suppose that Artemisia taurica from the western range is not poisonous. Based on
this assumption, an experiment was carried out where Artemisia taurica hay of the western
range was fed to young rams of the Askanian fine-wool breed. The age of animals was 8
months. The daily dose of 200-300 g of dry matter (DM) of Artemisia taurica (grass or hay)
per head is considered as a toxic threshold for sheep. During 24 days, the animals from the
experimental group consumed daily 302 g of DM of Artemisia taurica hay in average per
head. Moreover, sometimes the daily consumption reached 383 g of DM. Despite this, there
were no signs of poisoning. The animals from the experimental group did not show any signs
of ailment or ill-being, and there was no difference in appearance and behaviour between the
experimental group and the control one. The animals never refused to consume the hay of Artemisia tauirica, and in general during the experiment, the palatability of Artemisia tauirica
hay increased. Consequently, there is a ground to conclude that Artemisia taurica from the
western range can be used as a feed for sheep. As Artemisia taurica from the western range
contains high amount of essential oil, it is obvious that some other substance, but not the essential oil, is the toxic principle of this plant. Presumably, tauremisin is the real toxic principle. Artemisia taurica from the western range is known to contain very small amount of
tauremisin, and this appears to be the reason why it hasn’t got any toxic properties in contrast
to Artemisia taurica from the eastern range.