SUNFLOWER SILAGE DIGESTION EXPERIMENT WITH 

 CATTLE AND SHEEP 1 



By Ray E. Neidig, Chemist, Robert S. Snyder, Associate Chemist, and C. W. 

 Hickman, Animal Husbandman, Idaho Agricultural Experiment Station 



The object of the experiment reported in this article was to determine 

 the apparent digestibility 2 of silage made from sunflowers when fed to 

 cattle and sheep. Sunflowers have gained a wide reputation as a silage 

 crop in the Pacific Northwest, and much interest is being taken in their 

 growth on lands where corn can not be successfully grown. Sunflowers 

 are a hardier crop than corn, withstanding both drouth and frost to a 

 much greater degree. Another point in favor of sunflowers is the fact 

 that usually a greater tonnage can be secured in the semiarid regions. 

 Many claims are made concerning the high value of sunflower silage for 

 feeding purposes, but little is known at the present time as to its actual 

 value other than numerous practical feeding tests which indicate that 

 sunflowers are a very promising silage crop. Recently, however, the 

 Montana Agricultural Experiment Station has reported on the digestible 

 nutrients in sunflower silage made from a crop of sunflowers harvested 

 when the plants were approximately 5 per cent in bloom. While a full 

 report of the work has not been published, yet a summary of the digest- 

 ible nutrients found in 100 pounds of silage, together with the same 

 data on mature and immature corn, taken from Henry and Morrison's 

 "Feeds and Feeding" is given in Bulletin 131 as follows: 



Digestible nutrients in 100 pounds of 

 sunflower silage 



Digestible nutrients in 100 pounds of 

 mature corn a 



Digestible nutrients in 100 pounds silage 

 from immature corn a 



Total 

 dry sub- 

 stance. 



Pounds. 

 21. 4 



26. 



Crude 

 protein. 



Pounds. 



I. 24 



I. I 

 I. O 



Crude 

 fiber and 

 nitrogen- 

 free 

 extract. 



Pounds. 

 IO. 13 



IS.OO 

 II. 40 



Ether 

 extract. 



Pounds. 

 o-37 



.70 

 .40 



Nutri- 

 tive 

 ratio. 



9.8 



IS- 1 



12.3 



a Henry, W. A., and Morrison, F. B. 

 1917. 



FEEDS AND FEEDING 



ed. 17, X, 691 p. Madison, Wis., 



From the digestible nutrients found in the sunflower silage and from 

 the practical feeding experiments carried on by the Montana Agricultural 

 Experiment Station, with dairy and beef cattle, ewes, and brood sows 

 they conclude that sunflowers are a valuable silage crop. 



1 Published by the permission of Director E. J. Iddings, Idaho Agricultural Experiment Station, as 

 a joint project of the Department of Agricultural Chemistry and Animal Husbandry. 



2 Throughout this article the coefficients of digestibility refer to the coefficients of apparent digestibil- 

 ity—that is, the difference in the weights of the nutrients of the silage fed and in the feces expressed in 

 percentages of the total nutrients eaten. 



Journal of Agricultural Research, 



Washington, D. C 



xe 



$1) 



Vol. XX, No. 11 

 Mar. 1, 1921 

 Key No. Idaho-5 



