Abstract: Ear traits,especially the length of bald tip and grain size,are important for fresh-eating maize breeding.In this study,we analyzed the general combining ability(GCA) and special combining ability(SCA) and heritability parameters of six ear traits of five sweet-waxy double recessive inbred lines including 17HN79,17HN84,17HN88,17HN97 and 17HN98 by using incomplete diallel crossing design.The results showed that the general heritability of six ear traits ranged from 65.5% to 97.0% and narrow heritability ranged from 29.3% to 64.0%.The ear length and grain size were mainly determined by non-additive genes,while the ear diameter,row number,grain number per row and bald tip length were mainly influenced by additive genes.The relative effects of GCA in sweet-waxy maize inbred line double recessive genotype 17HN98 was with higher in terms of ear length,grain number per row,grain size and bald tip length reduction,and was a sweet-waxy double recessive inbred line with better breeding value.17HN98/100,17HN98/107 and 17HN98/109 were the outstanding fresh-eating maize hybrid combinations based on GCA,SCA and ear traits performance.