Abstract: The popping characteristics of two F2 populations derived from 2 normal corn and one popcorn inbred lines were analyzed. The results showed that all popping characters of the two F2 populations were very low, and there were few plants with better popping characters then the popcorn inbred. So, it was very difficult to obtained elite popcorn inbreds through normal pedigree selection method. The distributions of all characters were not in accord with normal distribution, thus they were quantitative characters controlled by many genes with small and large effects. There were significant or highly significant positive correlations among almost all characters. Popping volume had the biggest positive direct effect to expansion fold, 100-kernel weight the biggest negative direct effect, ear-kernel weight and popping rate indirect positive effect through popping volume.