Palatability of six Mediterranean fodder shrubs was measured on stall-fed sheep and goats. The ratio I7 per D7 (average amount of shrub consumed over the 7-day period to average amount of shrub distributed over the 7-day period) was used as a palatability index. Goat consumed more shrubs than sheep. Sheep and goat preferences for shrubs were different. Shrub intake (I7) by sheep was not related to their chemical composition. In contrast, palatability was significantly correlated to dry matter (I7 per D7 equal to -0.76 DM plus 67.1, r equal to -0.70, P less than 0.01), ash (I7 per D7 equal to 1.92 Ash plus 16.1, r equal to 0.75, P less than 0.001), phosphor (I7 per D7 equal to 52.2 P plus 22.8, r equal to 0.54, P less than 0.05) and sodium (I7 per D7 equal to 5.3 Na plus 26.3, r equal to 0.67, P less than 0.01) contents.