Six genotypes of green gram (Vigna radiata (L.) Wilczek) were matted in full diallel fashion to study the combining ability, nature of gene action under water stress condition. Twelve quantitative character viz., days to first flowering, plant height, number of branches per plant, number of clusters per plant, number of flowers per cluster, number of pods per cluster, pod length, number of seeds per pod, 100 seed weight, seed yield per plant, harvest index and pollen fertility were recorded for 30 hybrids and their parents. The analysis of variance indicated that the parents and single cross hybrids differed among themselves for all the twelve characters studied. Based on the mean performance of the parents, the genotype RM8-668 and the hybrid RM8-652xCGG-09-05 were selected as the best parent and the best hybrid, respectively. The analysis of variance for combining ability revealed the importance of both GCA and SCA variances, illustrating the importance of both additive and nonadditive genetic variance in the inheritance of the twelve traits of interest. When the parents were assessed for their overall combining ability, the parents namely RM8-668 and CGG-09-22 were identified as good general combiners. The cross combinations namely RM8-665xCGG-09-22, GG09-05xCGG-09-24 and CGG-09-24xRM8-668 were identified as good specific combiners.
