Thorns
Thorns may injure animals and have been reported as a major problem for cattle in some countries. In the Caribbean Islands, a mycotic dermatosis due to the bacterium Dermatophilus congolensis has been linked to wounds caused by the thorns of Dichrostachys cinerea (Esterre et al., 1983).
Tannins
The foliage of Dichrostachys cinerea is rich in tannins and particularly in condensed tannins, which may be detrimental to digestibility (Makkar et al., 1997). However, some authors have considered that the total phenolic content was low enough to be nutritionally safe for ruminants (Matlebyane et al., 2009).