Combining ability and gene action for yield per plant and its component traits were estimated in an 8 x 8 F2 half diallel set. The study showed highly significant variance due to general and specific combing ability for all the nine quantitative characters. The predominance of additive genetic variance was observed for plant height, spike length, sedimentation value, b-carotene content and protein content. Whereas, for days to 50 per cent flowering, days to 80 per cent maturity, productive tillers per plant and yield per plant exhibited more of non-additive genetic variance was noticed. The parents GW-1189, HW-2000, DDK-1013 and DWR-174 exhibited high overall general combining ability status. The crosses HW-2000 x MACS-2925, DDK-1013 x DDK-1001, and DDK-1013 x  DWR-174 showed high overall SCA status. Superior crosses, in general, involved at least one good general combining parent.