F1 and F2 population, and their parents of three crosses of sunflower were sown to study and analyse the inheritance and selection effect of seed oil content, The result showed that broad sense heritability values of seed oil content were moderate (37.69—56.85%). The nature of gene action of high oil content was superdominant to low oil content. one to five pairs of major genes controlled the difference of seed oil content between parents. High positive heterosis was found in F1. Average acquired genetic advances were 2.14—4.04% in F3 generation, the oil content increased averagely by 10.32—11.29% compared with F2 population, when selection rate was 5% in F2 generation. Therefore, it suggests that the individual selection for seed oil content character should be taken up in early generations of inbred strains.