Abstract: 【Objective】 To study the relationship between corn ear traits before and after drought, yield and drought resistance in the hope of providing theoretical basis for accurate identification of corn drought tolerance and corn drought resistance breeding. 【Methods】 Under the field drip irrigation conditions, six undervolume irrigation treatments were set up and the first irrigation for each treatment was 675 m³/hm² to ensure the emergence of seedlings. Water was irrigated 7 times from jointing to maturity, and the irrigation volume for each of the 6 treatments was 675(100%), 540(80%), 405(60%), 270(40%), 135(20% and 0(0%) m³/hm². 9 ear traits of 12 maize hybrids under different water treatments were measured, and the change trend of ear traits with irrigation amount was studied. 【Results】 Treatment with irrigation of 540 m³/hm² (80%) compared with full irrigation of 675 m³/hm²(100%), the single ear weight(SEW) of 12 hybrids increased or decreased from -7.0% to 3.1%, with an average increase or decrease of 1.8%, indicating that a 20% reduction in irrigation volume has little effect on yield; as the irrigation volume further decreased, corn single ear weight(SEW), total number of ears(TNE), grain number per ear(GNE), hundred grain weight(GHW), kernel numbers per row(KNR), ear length(EL), and ear diameter(ED) showed a decreasing trend, the bare tip length(BTL) showed an increasing trend, while the change trend of kernel rows per ear(KRE) was not obvious; the order of sensitivity to drought was as follows: SEW, BTL, GNE, KNR, EL, TNE, GHW, ED and KRE. 【Conclusion】 Under mild drought conditions (within 20% water shortage), the yield of corn hybrids decrease slightly; under moderate drought conditions (water saving 40%-60%), SEW, BTL, GNE and KNR can be used as important indexes for drought resistance identification; under severe drought conditions (more than 80% water shortage), EL, HGW, TNE and ED can be used as auxiliary indicators for the identification of extreme drought resistance of maize.