Branching processes and multiparticle production.

The general theory of branching processes is used for establishing the relation between the parameters [ital k] and [ital [bar n]] of the negative binomial distribution. This relation gives the possibility to describe the overall data on multiplicity distributions in [ital pp]([ital p[bar p]]) collisions for energies up to 900 GeV and to make several interesting predictions for higher energies. This general approach is free from ambiguities associated with the extrapolation of the parameter [ital k] to unity.