Abstract: To study the effects of growth and physiological characteristics of Coix lacryma-jobi L.under nitrogen and phosphorus deficiency,seeds of Coix lacryma-jobi L. from Qianxinan in Guizhou were used as test materials.There were four treatments with sand culture pot,control（vegan nutrition）,nitrogen deficiency,phosphorus deficiency,nitrogen and phosphorus deficiency,growth index,chlorophyll content,antioxidant enzyme system and soluble sugar content of Coix lacryma-jobi L.were determined.The results showed that,1)nitrogen deficiency,phosphorus deficiency,nitrogen and phosphorus deficiency all significantly decreased plant height,root length,total leaf number,specific leaf area and chlorophyll content,these lead to total biomass decrease by 80.65%,77.88% and 91.24% separately compared with the control group;2)nitrogen deficiency,phosphorus deficiency,nitrogen and phosphorus deficiency significantly increased malondialdehyde（MDA） content and catalase（CAT） activity,peroxidase（POD） activity decreased by 14.29% when nitrogen deficiency occurred,and increased when phosphorus deficiency,or nitrogen and phosphorus deficiency;3)the soluble sugar content of Coix lacryma-jobi L.relative to the control group increased by 102.00% under phosphorus deficiency,and decreased by 54.35% and 34.59% separately under nitrogen deficiency,or nitrogen and phosphorus deficiency.Elements deficiency inhibits the growth of Coix lacryma-jobi L.on the whole,and nitrogen and phosphorus deficiency on growth and physiological inhibited more apparentthan single nitrogen deficiency or phosphorus deficiency.