UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION 

 COLLEGE OF AGRICULTURE V,*"."" HU'-"""^.,.. .,.... 



BERKELEY H. E. VAN NORMAN, VICE-DIRECTOR AND DEAN 



UNIVERSITY FARM SCHOOL 



PRECAUTIONS AGAINST POISONING 



BY JOHNSON GRASS AND 



OTHER SORGHUMS 



BY C. M. HAEING 



For many years it has been recognized that green sorghums, when 

 stunted or in the stage known as "second growth," may sometimes 

 be poisonous to stock. In California losses of cattle and sheep from 

 Johnson grass poisoning are frequent, but complaints of poisoning 

 from sorghums are rare. The danger from poisoning by members 

 of the sorghum family, with the exception of Johnson grass, has 

 doubtlessly been overestimated, as the death rate among live stock 

 from this source is low compared with that from other causes. 



The poisonous property of all the sorghums is due to hydrocyanic 

 acid, popularly known as prussic acid. Fortunately, this compound 

 forms only under certain conditions of growth and moisture and is 

 confined to the green leaves. The following varieties, when green, 

 may contain enough of this poison to cause death in stock: Johnson 

 grass, Sudan grass, sweet sorghum, and kafir. All varieties are said 

 to develop hydrocyanic acid occasionally. When young and green, 

 or when stunted, the following forage plants should also be fed with 

 caution: milo, feterita, kaoliang, dura or Egyptian corn, and shall u 

 or Mexican wheat. Some plants, not belonging to the sorghum family, 

 notably Java beans, Burma beans, and cherry tree leaves, contain a 

 dangerous amount of hydrocyanic acid. 



Johnson Grass (Andropogon halepensis). This plant is well 

 known to fanners in California. It was introduced a number of 

 years ago and cultivated as a forage plant, but it soon escaped and 

 assumed the character of a weed. It has become a pest in nearly 

 all irrigated districts of the state. Johnson grass closely resembles 

 Sudan grass in appearance, the leafage being practically the same, 

 but the latter is an annual and easily eradicated, while the former is 

 a perennial with underground root stocks which are extremely difficult 



