Inheritance of Quantitative Characters in Diallel Crosses of Maize

Five inbred lines of maize were used in half diallel crosses to study the combining ability for the characters: height of main ear, number of leaves over the main ear, number of leaves for plant, leaf area, number of grains/ear, grain weight and plant grain yield.The parents and their F1 crosses were planted by using randomized complete block design with three replications. Data were analyzed according to Griffing analysis (1956), method-2, fixed model. Mean squares for general and specific combining abilities were significant at 1% for all characters.The ratio of the components for General and Specific combining abilities was less than one for all the characters.The inbred line ZP was better than others in its general combining ability effect for four characters height of main ear, number of leaves over the main ear, number of leaves for plant and grain weight ,The crosses (DK-17×ZM 7), (DK-17×ZM 47 W), (ZM 7×ZP) and (ZM7 × ZM47 W) exhibited significant specific combining ability effect in desired direction for the characters height of main ear, number of leaves over the main ear , number of leaves for plant , grain weight and plant grain yield (gm).