Voluntary intake and apparent digestibility of dry matter, organic matter, energy and cell wall components in silages of four sunflower genotypes (Rumbosol 91, M734, C11 and S430) were evaluated using 20 lambs in metabolic cages. A completely randomized design was used with four treatments and five replicates. No differences were observed among genotypes for dry matter, organic matter, digestible or metabolizable energy, neutral detergent fiber or acid detergent fiber intakes. Apparent digestibility of organic matter was higher for R91, M734 and S430 than for C11 genotypes, but not enough to influence digestible organic matter intake. All of the sunflower silages were classified as suitable roughages, because dry matter intake of each silage (63.6, 69.6, 50.2 and 74.5 g DM/kg0.75 for R91, M734, C11 and S430, respectively) was higher than published maintenance requirement for the lambs. Low averages for apparent digestibility of NDF (32.3%) and ADF (28.7%) were due to the low quality of cell wall components.
sheep; sunflower; silage; intake; digestibility
