Natural and managed plant communities contain plants that are poisonous to livestock, wildlife and humans.  These toxic plants or their seeds may also be harvested with grains and forages, resulting in contamination of feeds and food.  The risk of poisoning from toxic plants interferes with the optimum use of ranges, pastures and contaminated feeds and food.

The mission of the Poisonous Plant Research Laboratory is to identify toxic plants, isolate and identify plant toxins, determine the mechanism of toxicity, document toxin metabolism and clearance from tissues, develop diagnostic and prognostic procedures, identify conditions of poisoning, and develop management strategies, antidotes, treatments and other recommendations to reduce losses, insure product quality and promote animal and human health.

Interdisciplinary teams of chemists, geneticists, pathologists, physiologists, plant and range scientists, toxicologists, and veterinarians provide a interdisciplinary approach of applied and basic research to develop solutions to intoxication.  Research information is used by the livestock industry, wildlife managers, nutritionists, veterinarians, physicians, poison control centers, scientists, and other state and federal agencies.