Twenty eight maize (Zea mays L.) inbred lines of different origin were evaluated to select the drought tolerant lines as parents for hybrid maize breeding. These inbred lines was developed from the local open-pollinated cultivars and exotic gerplasm from China and America. To preliminarily identify drought tolerant inbred lines, the lines were grown in plastic pots containing sterilized fine sand and the following traits were observed: leaf area per plant, root volume, root length, plant height, fresh and dry root weight, and dry stem weight. The genes or QTLs associated with drought tolerance were analyzed using three specific SSR markers. Data analysis showed that root traits are correlated with yield under drought condition. And cound be considered as primary indicators to determine the drought-tolerance of maize. umc1862 marker was found to be associated with grain yield under stress condition (Ys), nc133 marker associated with the stress tolerance and umc2359 associated with mean productivity. 28 inbred lines investigated have QTL controlling yield under strees and tolerance. Of these 14 lines that have QTL associated with strees tolerance index. Combining phenotypic evaluation and genetic markers, 5 lines, i.e. TP17, TP12, TP2, TP5 and TP24 are suggested for combining ability testing for future development of hybrid maize varieties with tolerance.