The comparative efficiency of sterilization methods of pollen of sunflower flowers

The comparative efficiency of methods of artificial hybridization of sunflower plants using several fertile female lines was revealed. The best methods of sterilization of sunflower pollen proved to be manual castration and plant treatment with an aqueous solution of gibberellin, in which case the 94-100 % sterility of male elements of flower is achieved. The flushing of pollen with water causes insufficient sterility of 50-80 %. The usage of a moisture chamber enables to achieve high levels of pollen sterility - 94-99 %, but the number of set seeds decreases by 3-4 times - up to 49-84 pcs. per head. The application of a moisture chamber is possible for receiving a small amount of hybrid seeds at the initial stages of breeding process; in addition, this method is the least labour-consuming.