47 DUS testing traits were used to investigate the phenotypic diversity of 15 common maize inbred lines and 13 elite waxy maize inbred lines.The results indicated that the common maize inbred lines were more diverse than the waxy type at the phenotypic level; the Shannon-Weaver diversity index between 47 traits varied widely .Clustering analysis showed waxy inbred lines clustered together tightly,and they had great phenotypic difference with common maize inbred lines.DUS testing traits can be used in the phenotypic diversity assessment of maize inbred lines just because of broader information included and less affected by environments