Abstract

The study of a diallel cross involving ten well adapted inaize inbreds indicated high correlation of yield with ear weight, kernals per ear, 100-kernel weight, and the cob weight. Additive as well as non-additive effects of the genes were found to be quite important for all other characters except 100-kernel weight. The magnitude of specific combining ability was high in case of yield, ear weight, kernels per ear and cob weight, while general combining estimates were higher in case of 100-kernel weight and days to silking only. The specific combining ability for correlated characters like ear weight, kernels per ear, 100-kernel weight and the cob weight may be an useful index for select ing the cultures on the basis of the components.

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