Josh, I am sure it is for you and Jen's wedding, but made me curious and looked online about nutritional values and here is what I found.
Sunflower can also be used as a silage crop. It can be used as a double crop after early harvested small grains or vegetables, an emergency crop, or in areas with a season too short to produce mature corn for silage.
Forage yields of sunflower are generally less than corn when a full growing season is available. In one study, sunflower dry matter yields ranged from 2.0 to 3.0 ton/acre compared with 3.1 to 3.8 ton/acre for corn. Moisture content of sunflower at maturity is usually high (80 to 90%) and would require wilting before ensiling.
Nutritional quality of sunflower silage is often higher than corn but lower than alfalfa hay (Table 1). Crude protein level of sunflower silage is similar to grass hay and higher than corn silage. Generally, crude protein of sunflower decreases and lignin percentage increases after the flowering stage. High plant populations increases fiber and lignin percentage. Seed size does not seem to affect yield or quality.
Table 1: Nutritional quality of sunflower, immature corn, and mature corn silage, alfalfa hay (harvested in early bloom) and timothy bay (harvested in late vegetative stage).1
Silage Hay
Sunflower Immature corn Mature corn Alfalfa Timothy
% of dry matter
Total digestible nutrients 67.0 60.0 69.0 58.0 68.0
Crude protein 11-12 8.2 7.8 18.0 11.4
Ether extract 10-12 2.6 2.9 2.2 2.4
Crude fiber 31.0 31.0 23.0 31.0 31.0
Acid detergent fiber 32.0 --- 31.0 38.0 33.0
Lignin 10-16 --- --- 9.0 3.1
IVDDM 2 63-70 --- --- 66.0 63.0 |
1Data from Miller, Oplinger and Collins, 1986.
2In vitro dry matter disappearance.
Sunflower silage contains considerably more fat than many other forages, (Table 1). Some producers and researchers in Oregon have experimented with sunflower/corn intercrops to increase energy content of a silage, but results of this work are not yet complete. In South Dakota trials, milk yields were reduced by 9% when straight sunflower silage was compared with corn. The nutritional quality of sunflower silage is generally recognized as adequate for dry cows, steers, and low milk producers.
