The ZmDIR11 gene， a member of the DIR gene family， was cloned from maize and its sequence of gene and structures of protein were predicted to mine key genes involved in regulating the resistance to salt stress in maize. The patterns of gene expression were analyzed to further investigate the regulatory mode of ZmDIR11 in salt stress tolerance in maize B73-EMS mutants. The results showed that ZmDIR11 encoded a peptide containing the Dirigent domain， and its promoter region contained structural elements including ARE， MYB， MYC， STRE， LTR， and MBS， all associated with the regulation of abiotic stress. ZmDIR11 was predominantly expressed in maize roots and upregulated under salt stress， with subcellular localization in the endoplasmic reticulum. It was found that the growth and material accumulation of mutant maize plants after salt stress treatment were significantly lower than those of wild-type B73， and the regulation pathway of oxidative metabolism， the accumulation of proline， the synthesis of chlorophyll， the accumulation of lignin， and the transport pathway of Na⁺/K⁺ were inhibited. Relevant metabolic indexes of mutant maize plants were significantly lower than those of wild-type B73. It is indicated that ZmDIR11 positively regulates the metabolic pathway of salt tolerance in maize， and its mutation reduces the salt tolerance in maize.