Oct. 2, 1920.] Agricultural Gazette of S.S.W. 721 



Sunflowers as Silage* 



H. WENHOLZ, B.Sc. (Agr.), Inspector of Agriculture. 



Giant sunflowers have been sown on dij(fei*ent occasions in many districts of 

 New South Wales as a seed crop on a small scale or as a novelt^^ The seed 

 is of value as poultry and bird feed, but it has never become a recognised farm 

 crop, partly because of the limited market and partly because low-priced seed 

 can l)e imported from countries in which labour is cheap. Moreover, sun- 

 flowers cannot compare as a seed crop with maize, for on soils and in districts 

 where sunflowers will produce 1,500 lb. of seed per acre (which is considered 

 to be an average yield) maize or broom millet will be much inore profitable. 



Revived interest has been taken in the subject of sunflowers as a silage 

 crop in America recently, interest which has been further increased by reason 

 of the greater yields of green fodder obtained from sunflowers as compared 

 with maize, more especially in cold climates. It is in the coldest States of 

 America that the high yields of sunflowers as compared witJi maize have been 

 obtained, and where the crop has been used for silage. In Canada yields 

 (•f 39 tons per acre of green fodder are said to have been obtained from 

 sunflowers as compared with 14 tons per acre from maize. In Montana* 36 

 tons of sunflower green fodder were obtained under irrigation in 1915, and 

 22 tons per acre without irrigation in. 1916. These yields are said to have 

 been from two to four times as great as the yield of maize gi-een fodder. In 

 Nevada! sunflowers yielded 23 tons of green fodder per acre as against 14 

 tons for maize. 



The vield of fodder obtained from sunflowers is regarded as likely to be 

 much heavier than tiiat of maize where the latter does not mature a good 

 grain crop on account of the cMd and short growing season. Not only will 

 sunflowers start growth more quickly than maize in early spring in these 

 cold climates, but they will reach the fodder stage a few weeks before maize, 

 and thus lie harvested for the silo and out of danger from frost, which often 

 cuts maizH before the best fodder stage is reached. In fact, it lias been shown 

 tliat sunflowers will also withstand frost better than maize — not only in the 

 early stages of growth but also in the later ones. Sunflowers are not 

 especially drought-resistant ; they have been known to make very good 

 growth on little rainfall, but it is doubtful whether they are at all comparable 

 with grain sorghums under semi-arid conilitions, though they may be more 

 drought-resistant than maize. 



In Canada it was reported that sunflowers were fed as green fodder to 

 cows over thirty years ago, and while they were not found to affect the flavour 

 of the milk, they were said to cause purgini; when fed in large quantities. 



* Montana Agr. Expt. Sta., Bull. 118 (Sept., 1917). 

 t Nevada Agr. Expt. Sta. Rept., 1919. 



