Abstract: Phosphorus(P) nutrient characteristics of 9 maize inbred lines at their six-leaf-aged seedling stage were evaluated using linear modeling.Basing on the biomass production of the whole plant or the shoot(mg/plant) vs the P content in culture media contributing to per-seedling(P mg),the linear models were established and their regression coefficients were taken as indices of the P efficiency of the whole-plant or the shoot part.Basing on the biomass production of the whole plant or the shoot part vs the corresponding P content of the whole plant or the shoot part(P(mg/plant)),the linear models were established and their regression coefficients were taken as indices of the P utilization efficiency of the whole-plant or the shoot part.Similarly,basing on P contents in the whole plant vs P content in culture media contributing to per-seedling,the linear models were established and their regression coefficients were taken as indices of P uptake efficiency.The mean values of P efficiency,P utilization efficiency and P uptake efficiency of the above 9 maize inbred lines were 53.95(whole plant) and 42.61(shoot);131.84(whole plant) and 124.45(shoot);0.41,respectively.The highest P efficiency was observed from the inbred line 04419 with respectively 45%(whole plant) and 59%(shoot) higher than the corresponding mean value.The lowest P efficiency was observed from the inbred line 04065 and line 04088 with respectively 43%,38%(whole plant) and 55%,51%(shoot) lower than the corresponding mean value.The other efficiencies were middle.There was a significant correlation between P efficiency and P uptake efficiency at seeding stage of maize inbred lines,indicating that the P uptake efficiency may be employed as a pre-selection criterion for high-P efficiency maize lines at the seedling stage.