Maize is one of the most important cereal crops globally after wheat and rice and holds a unique position in world agriculture as food, feed and source of diverse industrially important products. The most important abiotic stress affecting maize crop production worldwide is drought, defined as the mechanism causing minimum loss of yield in a water deficit environment relative to the maximum yield in a water constraint free management of the crop. It is becoming one of the topmost constraints affecting the production and productivity of maize worldwide (Araus et al., 2002). One of the major limiting factors for maize production and productivity is inadequate soil moisture particularly during flowering and grain filling stages (Joshi et al., 2005). Thus, breeding for maize drought tolerance is primarily aimed at identifying lines with optimal reproductive