Scope of Sunflower Head as an Animal Feed in Andhra Pradesh

A survey was undertaken to assess the availability and utilization pattern of sunflower heads (SFH) in seven sunflower growing districts of Andhra Pradesh i.e., Kurnool, Anantapur, Cuddapah, Prakasam, Karimnagar, Mahaboobnagar and Warangal. The survey revealed that farmers were feeding SFH in a very limited quantity to their animals (18.10%) and mainly to bullocks. The feeding was in the form of deseeded heads (17.55%) and few farmers (2.23%) were mixing SFH with other locally available feeds and fodders for feeding to animals. Unawareness and lack of tradition (59.1%) were the reasons attributed for not feeding SFH to their animals. The crude protein and crude fibre content of popular sunflower head ranged between 5.91 and 9.78 and 25.51 and 42.98 percent, respectively. The in vitro organic matter and neutral detergent fibre digestibility and effective DM degradability for SFH on an average was 66.30, 45.55 and 64.40%, respectively. The survey and nutritional analysis indicated that SFH can form a roughage source in animal rations, but proper extension and demonstrations of utilization of SFH is required for popularizing the use of SFH as livestock feed.