Abstract: The response of maize seedling stage growth and physiological characteristics were studied in 4 different low nitrogen tolerance maize cultivars in a two years pot experiment. The results showed that the plant height,leaf area,dry weight of shoot,dry weight of plant,nitrogen accumulation,shoot nitrogen distribution,chlorophyll content and soluble protein content of the 4 maize hybrids declined sharply under the low nitrogen stress conditions. However,root-shoot ratio,root nitrogen distribution,nitrogen physiological efficiency,the content of soluble sugar,proline,MDA (malondialdehyde) and POD (peroxidase) activity were significantly increased; and there was insignificant difference in dry weight of root under the different nitrogen levels. Compared with low nitrogen sensitive maize cultivars,the variation of plant height,leaf area,dry weight of shoot,dry weight of plant,root-shoot ratio,nitrogen accumulation,shoot nitrogen distribution,root nitrogen distribution,the content of chlorophyll,soluble protein and MDA are lower,while the variation of nitrogen physiological efficiency,the content of soluble sugar and proline,and the activity of POD are higher in low nitrogen tolerant maize cultivars under the low nitrogen stress. The results showed that compared with low nitrogen sensitive cultivars,the low nitrogen tolerant cultivars kept stronger photosynthetic capacity by higher shoot nitrogen distribution,higher chlorophyll content and bigger leaf area,reduced the damage of membrane lipid peroxidation and delayed the leaf senescence by higher content of organic osmotic,such as soluble protein,soluble sugar and proline,and POD activity,meanwhile the low nitrogen environment adaptability of low nitrogen tolerant maize cultivars was improved.