UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 

 BULLETIN No. 1045 



Contribution from the Bureau of Plant Industry 

 WM. A. TAYLOR, Chief 



Washington, D. C. 



March 18, 1922 



THE SUNFLOWER AS A SILAGE CROP 



By 



H. N. VINALL, Agronomisf^ 

 Office of Forage-Crop Investigations 



CONTENTS 



Page 



Early History of the Sunflower 1 



Present Distribution 2 



Cultivation in the Uiiited States 2 



Areas Suited to the Production of 



Sunflowers 4 



Value of Sunflowers In the Semiarid 



Regions 5 



Soil Relations and Effect on the Fol- 

 lowing Crop 7 



Varieties 7 



Growing Sunflowers for Silage 9 



Date of Seeding 10 



Method and Rate of Seeding .... 10 



Cultivation and Irrigation 11 



Harvesting Methods 12 



Time to Cut Sunflowers 13 



Filling the Silo 15 



Yields of Silage 17 



Feeding Value of Sunflower Silage ... 20 



Composition and Digestibility .... 20 



Palatability 21 



Color, Texture, and Odor 23 



Acidity of the Silage 23 



Results with Dairy Cattle 23 



Feeding Tests with Beef Cattle ... 26 

 Use of Sunflower Silage in Feeding 



Sheep 27 



Feeding Sunflower Silage to Hogs . . 29 



Sunflowers as a Soiling Crop 29 



Diseases of Sunflowers 30 



Insects Attacking Sunflowers 31 



Literattu-e Cited, 31 



WASHINGTON 

 GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 



1922 



