Abstract：Maize (Zea mays) is one of the main food crops in the world. Through breeding to cultivate maize rich in β-carotene is one of the effective methods to solve the problem of lower β-carotene content in maize relatively. In order to screen out maize inbred lines and hybridized combinations of high agronomic traits combining ability and rich in β-carotene, 64 hybridized combinations which were planted at Yuanjiang and Ya'an were made according to the complete diallel cross method with total 8 inbred lines as parents which were high or low in β-carotene content, and 13 agronomic traits of the hybridized combinations were observed by combining ability analysis based on Griffing 3 method. The results showed that the general combining ability (GCA) of agronomic traits related to yield of inbred lines 9636, R08 and 698-3 performed higher and the effects of yield per plant and ear weight were the largest. The specific combining ability (SCA) of agronomic traits related to yield of hybridized combinations 9636×Huangzaosi, 698-3×Mo17, Dongdan54-3-1-1-1×R08 and 5311×698-3 performed better through SCA analysis. The reciprocal cross effect of agronomic traits related to yield of hybridized combinations 9636×48-2, 9636×Dongdan54-3-1-1-1, Dongdan54-3-1-1-1×Mo17 and Dongdan54-3-1-1-1×Huangzaosi performed higher through reciprocal cross analysis. Combined with the results of β-carotene content combining ability analysis, it is finally supposed that both β-carotene content and agronomic traits GCA of the inbred line 9636 are higher, and β-carotene content and agronomic traits of its hybridized combination 9636×Huangzaosi are better at the two environments. In agronomic trait aspect, the research provides a theoretical reference for maize quality breeding rich in β-carotene.
