Abstract
Elght inbred lines of maize were used in complete diallel crosses to study the combining ability for the characters, number of days to silk and tassel flowering,plant height,main ear height,number of leaves over the upper ear,number of leaves in plant,leaf area surrounding the upper ear,ear length,ear diameter,number of rows in ear,number of grains in ear,100-grain weight,plant grain yield and oil and protein percentage .The parents of their acrosses planted using randomized complete block design with three replications. Data were analysed according to Griffing analysis (1956),fi×ed model,method-1.Mean squares for general and specific combining abilities were significant for all characters.The ratio of the components for the the two abilities was less than one for all the characters e×cept for the height of the main ear and number of leaves in plant.The inbred line DK-17 was better than others in its general combining ability effect for number of days to silk flowering, plant height,height of main ear,number of leaves over the main ear,number of leaves in plant,leaf area, ear length,number of rows in ear,number of grains in ear,100-grain weight,plant grain yield and protein percent,The cross ZP707*CA21K had a good specific combining ability effect for all the characters.