Effect of nipping axillary flower buds on seed yield and yield components in RHA·274 (restorer)line of sunflowerwasinvestigated. Generally,thenippedplantshadhighermean values for the characters studied. Seed yield increased by 26.3% in the nipped plants over the normallybranchedplantsmainlydueto increasedloo-seedweight.However,increased seed yield in the nipped plants was compensated by increased oil content in the branched plants, thus maintaining the same oil yield per plant in both nipped and branched plants. The significance of inducingplantsto produce monoheadsartificiallyis discussed in view of the seed production programmes.
Nipping, sunflower, axillary flowers, seed yield, oil yield
