Influence of Different Pollination Methods on Seed Yield in Sunflower Hybrid Ndsh 1

Seed setting in relation to pollination methods was studied in sunflower hybrid NDSH 1. Mean values over two years of study indicated yield increase of 4% with open pollination supplemented with hand pollination on alternate days over daily hand pollination and 88.56% increase over bee pollination (4 frames). Seed setting percentage was high with open pollination supplemented with hand pollination (72.12%) followed by daily hand pollination (66.17%) and bee pollination with 8 frames (50.89%). Of all the seven treatments studied, net pollination registered high test weight (8.14 g per 100 seeds) followed by spray of sugar solution (5%) on female heads at 25, 50 and 75% flowering (7.23 g) and bee pollination with 4 frames (6.78).