Studies have been carried out on the quality and utilization of sunflower seed and cake. Sunflower hybrids have been examined for their proximate composition, micronutrients, fatty acid profile and tocopherol content. The major fatty acids namely oleic and linoleic acids, were 36-50% and 42-54%, respectively. Micronutrients like zinc, copper, manganese and iron were analyzed in various genotypes; zinc content ranged from 50 to 107.2 g/g, copper 24.4-39.6 g/g, manganese 28.2-89.6 g/g and iron between 305 and 392 g/g. Alpha, beta and gamma tocopherols ranged between 406 and 485, 35 and 56 and 4 and 10 mg/kg, respectively. MSFH 8 had high levels of tocopherols and micronutrients.

Sunflower cake flour and protein isolates were utilized in the preparation of biscuits and some snack food items like pakodi and chapati. Protein isolates added at 5% levels increased protein content of biscuits from 12 g/100g to 16 g/100g. At 10% level the protein content was 20 g/100g. Taste panel acceptability was 75-80% for the biscuits and snack foods against 100% for the control. There is thus a good opportunity for utilization of sunflower seed and cake flours and their protein isolates as food ingredients in India