Abstract Starch, protein and oil are main nutritional contents in normal maize. In this study, the F2 population derived from the maize(Zea mays L.) cross Huang C × 178 was used to construct genetic linkage map by simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers. Based on the linkage map and nutritional quality detected in F2, F2:3 and F2:4, a total of 16 QTLs were identified using MapQTL5.0, of which, 6 QTLs were associated with oil content, explaining phenotypic variation for 6.2%~17.8%, 5 QTLs with protein content, explaining phenotypic variation for 6.3%~12.0% and 5 QTLs with starch content, explaining phenotypic variation for 6.3%~10.0%. About all of QTLs detected appeared to be of over dominant and partially dominant. We conclude that 16 QTLs for nutritional quality traits will provide useful information for molecular assistant selection(MAS) in maize genetic improvement.
