THE SUNFLOWER AS A SILAGE CROP. 
21 
Table 3. — Digestible nutrients in 100 pounds of sunflower, corn, and sorghum 
silage. 
Animals 
used. 
Digestible nutrients (pounds). 
Nutritive 
ratio. 
Kind of silage. 
Crude 
protein. 
Crude 
fiber 
and 
nitrogen- 
free 
extract. 
Ether 
extract. 
Authority. 
Sunflower 3 steers. . 
Do l. .do 
Do 1 3 cows.. 
Do 3 sheep.. 
Do ...do 
1.24 
1.14 
.97 
1.10 
1.00 
10.13 
10.85 
7.72 
9.62 
c8.17 
0.37 
.85 
.91 
.95 
1.45 
a 8. 8 
11.2 
10.1 
10.6 
11.4 
Mont. Bui. 134, p. 8. 
W. Va. Circ. 32, p. 3.6 
jjour. Agr. Res. v. 20, p. 881. 
Wash. Bui. 158, p. 11. 
Do. (average) 
1.09 
9.30 
.91 
10.4 
1.39 
1.04 
.87 
17.39 
10.78 
12.92 
.67 
.45 
.82 
13.5 
11.8 
16.4 
■I 
Corn stover , 
[Farmers' Bulletin 1240, " Feed- 
Sorghum : 
j ing Farm Animals." 
a This figure was incorrectly given as 9.8 in Mont. Bui. 134. 
b The coefficients of digestibility for sunflower silage determined in the Montana experiments were 
used in computing the digestible nutrients of the silage made in West Virginia to show the difference in 
results when a silage made from more nearly mature plants is considered. It is recognized that this method 
is subject to criticism, but the results, it is'believed, are approximately correct. 
c In Washington Bui. 162, p. 15, this figure is given as 8.29. 
PALATABILITY. 
There are some differences of opinion regarding the palatability of 
sunflower silage. Most of the evidence from feeding trials conducted 
in the United States and Canada leads to the conclusion that even 
though animals may hesitate at first to eat sunflower silage freely, 
they soon become accustomed to it and, with the possible exception 
of corn silage, show no preference between it and other kinds of 
silage. In a number of instances where adverse reports were made 
as to the palatability of sunflower silage, it is apparent that the crop 
was not in the right condition when it was put in the silo. At the 
Huntley (Mont.) and Scottsbluff (Nebr.) experiment farms the sun- 
flowers were not always cut before the seed had reached the hard 
dough stage, and some of the silage remained hard and woody in 
the silo. 
It is difficult to determine just why the sunflower silage is so uni- 
formly good at Bozeman, Mont., and so often of poor quality or at 
least low 7 in palatability at Huntley, in the same State. Chemical 
analyses of sunflower plants grown at Huntley show a lower sugar 
content than plants grown at Bozeman. This deficiency in sugar 
may diminish the fermentation processes necessary to produce good 
silage. A similar difference in the composition of the plants may 
explain the difficulties which have been encountered at Scottsbluff, 
Nebr. Holden (9, p. 26-28) , in his report for the years 1918 and 1919, 
says that while cows ate the sunflower silage in 1917 very well when 
it was feci for short periods alternating with corn silage, they did 
