Collection of sunflower lines of the Institute of Oilseed Crops was studied based on its branching. Ten lines with the basal branching trait were identified. It was established that the inheritance of the basal branching is due to the recessive alleles of the genes. For lines InLD1240 Z1064 LD835 KG13 VIR130 KG13 LD4 basal branching trait is due to the recessive homozygote of one gene b2 . In lines LD72/3 LD156 KG16 I2K2218 basal branching trait is due to the recessive homozygote of two genes b3 and b4 . It was established that the genes determining basal branching are distributed in the offspring independently of the genes controlling the top branching.