Planting maize (Zea mays L.) reasonably densely and adding amounts of appropriate nitrogen fertilizer are essential measures to improve the efficiency of maize yield and nitrogen use. In this study, two planting densities of 7.5 × 10⁴ plants ha⁻¹ and 12.0 × 10⁴ plants ha⁻¹ were established with the maize varieties DengHai 618 (DH618) and XianYu 335 (XY335). Simultaneously, 18 levels of nitrogen application were established, including a lack of nitrogen (N0) and increments of 45 kg ha⁻¹ nitrogen up to 765 (N765) kg ha⁻¹. The variables studied included the effects of the rate of nitrogen application on the characteristics of dry matter accumulation and the yield under drip irrigation, and they were integrated into water–fertilizer integration. The results indicated that the yield, harvest index, and dry matter accumulation of maize displayed a trend of increasing and then tending to be flat as the amount of nitrogen applied increased. The use of linear plus platform equation fitting indicated that the change in yield with nitrogen administered had the lowest turning point at N = 279 and N = 319, respectively. The next parameter that was measured was the harvest index. When highly dense maize was grown before silking, the rate of nitrogen applied was more obviously impacted by the accumulation of dry matter. The harvest index contributed 22.9–27.2% of the yield, and the total dry matter accumulation before and after silking contributed more than 70% of the production. Increasing the amount of nitrogen fertilizer is beneficial to prolonging the dry matter accumulation time and increasing the dry matter accumulation rate. The accumulation amount of dry matter was positively correlated with accumulation time and rate, and the correlation between dry matter and accumulation rate was greater. In conclusion, applying the right amount of nitrogen can dramatically increase the harvest index, accumulation of materials, and yield, with dry matter accumulation having the greatest influence on yield. The creation of dry matter is influenced by the time and rate of its accumulation, with its rate serving as the primary controlling factor.

Achieving optimal balance between maize yield and water use efficiency is an important challenge for irrigation maize production in arid areas. In this study, we conducted an experiment in Xinjiang China in 2016 and 2017 to quantify the response of maize yield and water use to plant density and irrigation schedules. The treatments included four irrigation levels: 360 (W1), 480 (W2), 600 (W3), and 720 mm (W4), and five plant densities: 7.5 (D1), 9.0 (D2), 10.5 (D3), 12.0 (D4), and 13.5 plants m⁻² (D5). The results showed that increasing the plant density and the irrigation level could both significantly increase the leaf area index (LAI). However, LAI expansion significantly increased evapotranspiration (ET_a) under irrigation. The combination of irrigation level 600 mm (W3) and plant density 12.0 plants m⁻² (D4) produced the highest maize yield (21.0–21.2 t ha⁻¹), ET_a (784.1–797.8 mm), and water use efficiency (WUE) (2.64–2.70 kg m⁻³), with an LAI of 8.5–8.7 at the silking stage. The relationship between LAI and grain yield and evapotranspiration were quantified, and, based on this, the relationship between water use and maize productivity was analyzed. Moreover, the optimal LAI was established to determine the reasonable irrigation level and coordinate the relationship between the increase in grain yield and the decrease in water use efficiency.

Accurate estimation of the canopy chlorophyll content (CCC) plays a key role in quantitative remote sensing. Maize (Zea mays L.) is a high-stalk crop with a large leaf area and deep canopy. It has a non-uniform vertical distribution of the leaf chlorophyll content (LCC), which limits remote sensing of CCC. Therefore, it is crucial to understand the vertical heterogeneity of LCC and leaf reflectance spectra to improve the accuracy of CCC monitoring. In this study, CCC, LCC, and leaf spectral reflectance were measured during two consecutive field growing seasons under five nitrogen treatments. The vertical LCC profile showed an asymmetric ‘bell-shaped’ curve structure and was affected by nitrogen application. The leaf reflectance also varied greatly between spatio–temporal conditions, which could indicate the influence of vertical heterogeneity. In the early growth stage, the spectral differences between leaf positions were mainly concentrated in the red-edge (RE) and near-infrared (NIR) regions, whereas differences were concentrated in the visible region during the mid-late filling stage. LCC had a strong linear correlation with vegetation indices (VIs), such as the modified red-edge ratio (mRER, R² = 0.87), but the VI–chlorophyll models showed significant inversion errors throughout the growth season, especially at the early vegetative growth stage and the late filling stage (rRMSE values ranged from 36% to 87.4%). The vertical distribution of LCC had a strong correlation with the total chlorophyll in canopy, and sensitive leaf positions were identified with a multiple stepwise regression (MSR) model. The LCC of leaf positions L6 in the vegetative stage (R²-adj = 0.9) and L11 + L14 in the reproductive stage (R²-adj = 0.93) could be used to evaluate the canopy chlorophyll status (L12 represents the ear leaf). With a strong relationship between leaf spectral reflectance and LCC, CCC can be estimated directly by leaf spectral reflectance (mRER, rRMSE = 8.97%). Therefore, the spatio–temporal variations of LCC and leaf spectral reflectance were analyzed, and a higher accuracy CCC estimation approach that can avoid the effects of the leaf area was proposed.

Stalk lodging in Huang-Huai-Hai summer maize is a serious problem that reduces maize yields and precludes the use of mechanical grain harvesting equipment. In order to determine the effect of nitrogen management on the lodging resistance of maize stalk, three nitrogen application rates of 150, 250, and 350 kg ha⁻¹ (denoted as N150, N250, and N350), and different nitrogen application periods (sowing, 6-leaf, 12-leaf, silking) were set. Plant morphology, stalk mechanical strength, total carbohydrate, nitrogen content, and yield were measured in the different treatments. The results showed that as the nitrogen application rate increased and nitrogen application was postponed, the stalk breaking force, plant height, ear height, center of gravity height, stalk basal internode diameter, rind penetration strength, content of carbohydrate, and total N of maize stalk also increased. The stalk lodging resistance was improved by the increased nitrogen application rate and postponed nitrogen application by increasing the stalk material accumulation and mechanical strength. The nitrogen application rates had no significant effect on grain yield. Under N250 and N350, the treatments with no base fertilizer significantly decreased the kernel number per ear, reflected in some in grain yield. In summary, under the conditions of integrated water and fertilizer drip irrigation and fractional nitrogen fertilizer applications, increased nitrogen fertilizer input can stimulate the growth of high-quality maize populations, significantly improve stalk lodging resistance in the early growth stage, delay stalk senescence, improve stalk strength and influence stalk composition in later growth stages. Based on the summer maize grain yield and stalk lodging resistance, under N250 treatment, a base fertilizer combined with topdressing at the 12-leaf and silking stages was beneficial to the growth of summer maize.

The stalk lodging caused by stalk rot after physiological maturity (PM) is a major factor restricting further development of mechanical grain harvesting in China. The physiological mechanism of stalk rot on maize stalk lodging after PM is not clear. This study, based on investigating stalk rot under natural field conditions, demonstrated the relation between stalk rot caused by Fusarium spp. and lodging of 35 maize cultivars after PM. In addition, three widely-planted maize cultivars were inoculated with Fusarium spp. at PM to analyze the pathogen of stalk rot causing lodging, by measuring the infection process, carbohydrate contents, and mechanical strength of stalks. Stalk lodging increased by 0.11–0.32% for each 1% incidence of stalk rot. The stalk rot pathogen infected stalks from the pith to the rind. At the level of longitudinal section, the stalk rot pathogen spread from the inoculation internode upwardly and downwardly. These infections gradually increased with the days after PM. Inoculated plants had decreased soluble sugar content; however, cellulose and lignin contained in the inoculated plants were both higher than that in the non-inoculated treatment. Crushing strength was significantly and positively correlated with percentage of soluble sugar. This indicated that the reduction of soluble sugar content during the natural senescence of maize stalk after PM was an important factor for the decrease of stalk strength and the increase of stalk lodging. The occurrence of stalk rot accelerated the decomposition of soluble sugar, which accelerated the decrease of stalk strength and greatly increased risk of stalk lodging.