evaluation of chemical composition, fermentation quality and digestibility of sunflower silage in different development stages

sunflower has many dry forage yields and is richer than corn in inorganic matter, protein and calcium. therefore, use of this forage in livestock diets can be valuable for elimination of food poverty. in order to determine the best harvest stage for sunflower silage, an experiment was conducted in 2007-2008 at agricultural faculty of shahid chamran university of ahvaz. a randomized complete block design with three treatments and four replications was used. treatments were developmental stages of sunflower including r3 (late budding stage), r5 (late blooming stage) and r6-r7 (milk-dough grain stage) which ensiling to duration of forty five days in two kg jars.the results of experiment showed that sunflower silage had significantly higher percent of ash, crude protein and dry matter digestibility in late budding stage than other stages, but this developmental stage was not recommendable, because there was not acceptable ph (5.67). so in this study the silage of late blooming and before seed formation, because of acceptable ph and higher protein, inorganic matter, water soluble sugar, dry matter digestibility and organic matter digestibility than milk-dough grain stage is recommended.