[Objective]The drought tolerance of 48 maize inbred lines were identificated and evaluated in order to provide references for breeding drought-resistant maize varieties and innovating germplasm resources. [Method]Under the environment of rainproof greenhouse, two treatments were designed as normal watering and 35 -day natural drought stress at flare opening stage. The ear traits , plant traits and yield of 48 maize inbred lines were investigated after 35 days of drought stress. The drought resistance of different materials were comprehensively appraised based on subordinate function values of drought resistance (SV) , drought coefficient (DC ) and drought index (DI) of yield. The correlation analysis and principal component analysis were conducted according to ear traits, plant traits, SV, DC , and DI and so on. The cluster analysis of drought tolerance for 48 maize germplasms was conducted by using Sv , DC , DI, yield, grains per row and ear length. [Result]Compared with normal watering condition, the average plant height, ear height, leaf area, stem diameter, ear length, ear diameter, rows per ear, grains per row of 48 maize inbred lines decreased by 14.8% , 11.7%, 6.4%, 9.0% , 12.0%, 2.5% , 4.6% and 16.6%, and the yield decreased by 11.0%-59.8%. Based on the evaluation results of yield DC , DI and SV , 15 inbred lines were of drought resistance , and 11 inbred lines were sensitive to drought. The yield DC , DI and SV showed higher correlation with yield, grains per row, ear length and ear diameter, and lower correlation with plant height, ear height, chlorophyll SPAD value , leaf area, stem diameter and 100-grain weight. The principal component analysis showed that DI, SV , yield, grains per row, DC and ear length were the important evaluating indices of maize drought tolerance , which could be used for cluster analysis. The cluster analysis indicated that 48 maize inbred lines could be classified into four groups, category I included 10 drought tolerant inbred lines; category II included two subgroups, subgroup II - 1 had 11 inbred lines, subgroup II -2 had 14 inbred lines, out of which, 5 inbred lines were of drought tolerance. Group IV only included one drought sensitive inbred line , group $ included 12 drought sensitive inbred lines. [Conclusion] It indicated that yield DC, DI and SV combined with principal component and cluster analysis are reliable to comprehensively evaluate drought resistance of maize inbred lines. The yield, grains per row, ear length and ear diameter were the important indices for selection of drought tolerance germplasm in production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]