Effects of different reduced nitrogen application on growth，yield，grain nutritional quality，nitrogen utilization of fresh waxy maize and soil nitrate nitrogen content were discussed，which could provide theoretical basis for rational application of nitrogen fertilizer of fresh waxy maize in Shanxi dryland.The field experiment was conducted using ‘Jinxiannuo41’ fresh waxy maize cultivar in the Demonstration Base of Water-Saving Agriculture of Shanxi province in 2018～2020. Four nitrogen application levels were set，namely，no nitrogen application(N0)，N 120 kg/hm²(N1，reducing nitrogen by 50%)，N 180 kg/hm²(N2，reducing nitrogen by 25%)，N 240 kg/hm²(N3，local farmers used to apply nitrogen).The plant height，stem diameter，leaf area，yield，grain nutritional quality，nitrogen utilization of fresh waxy maize and soil nitrate nitrogen content under different treatments were investigated.The results showed that fresh waxy maize yield firstly increased but later decreased with increasing nitrogen application.The highest yield of three years were obtained at nitrogen rate of 180 kg/hm²，which was 20515 kg/hm².With the increasing of nitrogen application levels，the grain total soluble sugar content of fresh waxy maize decreased and the protein content increased，but there were no significant difference between reducing nitrogen by 50% and local farmers used to apply nitrogen.Compared with local farmers used to apply nitrogen，the agronomic efficiency of applied nitrogen，nitrogen utilization efficiency，the partial factor productivity from applied nitrogen were increased by 96.0%，5.7%，39.4%，respectively，and the content of accumulative nitrate nitrogen in 0～200 cm soil layer at nitrogen rate of 180 kg/hm² was decreased by 58.3%.Reducing 25% of conventional nitrogen input will not affect fresh waxy maize yield，grain total soluble sugar content，protein content and nitrogen uptake significantly，but can improve agronomic efficiency of applied nitrogen，nitrogen utilization efficiency and the partial factor producitivity from applied nitrogen and decrease the content of accumulative nitrate nitrogen in 0～200 cm soil layer.According to the comprehensive evaluation for annual yield，grain nutritional quality，nitrogen use efficiency of fresh waxy maize and soil nitrate accumulation，the optimum nitrogen application rate was recommended to be nitrogen 180 kg/hm² for fresh waxy maize in Shanxi dryland.