The nutrient concentration around root-zone is high under the condition of root-zonefertilization(RZF)，and the absorption and utilization of nutrients by roots would be furtherimproved，but the maize root is relatively fragile atseedlingstage，so exploring the response of maize root system at seedling stage to root-zonefertilization(RZF)of nitrogen(N)is conducive to achieve high yield and useefficiency.A pot experiment was conducted to study the characteristics and distribution of maize root system at seedling stage under RZF ofN，and to develop the theory of RZF and provide theoretical basis for precision fertilization ofmaize.Two N fertilizervarieties(urea and controlled-releaseurea，marked as U andCRU，respectively)and four N applicationrates(N90，135，180，225 kg/hm²)were conducted to study the effects of N fertilizer varieties and N application on the rootmorphology and distribution of maize seedlings underRZF.The results showed that there were no significant differences among all treatments after 10 d aftertransplanting.After 25 d oftransplanting，the rootindices(rootbiomass，total rootlength，total surfacearea，totalvolume，averagediameter，rootactivity)of U treatments under RZF were increased first and then decreased with the increase of Nrate.However，the root indices of RZF with CRU increased or kept stable with the increased Nrate.Compared withCK，the root biomass(25.41% and64.37%)，total rootlength(40.14% and53.45%)，total root surfacearea(30.50% and32.52%)， total rootvolume(55.94% and46.72%)，averagediameter(20.01% and23.18%)and rootactivity(49.44% and 50.64%)of UR135 and CRUR225 were significantlyincreased，while those of UR225 were significantlydecreased. The root biomass of different soil layers wasalso affected by N fertilizer variety and Napplication.The root biomass of 0-5 and 5-10 cm soil layers rankedas:CRUR225 ≥ CRUR180=UR135 ≥CRUR135>UR90=UR180=CRUR90>CK>UR225， the 0-5 and 5-10 cm soil layers of CRUR225 were significantly increased by 61.44% and69.79%，respectively， compared withCK，while the root biomass of UR225 was significantly decreased by 45.66% and 36.01%respectively.The aboveground indices(leaflength，leafwidth，stemdiameter，plantheight，SPAD and aboveground biomass)of U application in root zone wereincreased first and then decreased with the increase of Napplication.Compared withCK，theleaf length，leafwidth，stem diameter and plant height of UR135 and CRUR225 were significantly increased by 44.86% and40.85%，47.59% and59.42%，34.38% and63.13%，43.55% and55.32%，respectively，while the stem diameter and plant height of UR225 werereduced by 4.69% and 3.17% respectively.Inconclusion，U treatment promoted maize root growth atlow and middle N applicationlevel(N 90 and 135 kg/hm²)，and inhibited root growth at high N application level(N 180 and 225 kg/hm²)underRZF.CRU in RZF is relativelysafe，and different N rates canpromote the growth ofmaize. UnderRZF，when low and medium N rates areconducted，U or CRU can beselected，however，when high N rate isadopt，CRU is more suitable.