Abstract:

To determine the effects of planting density，fertilizer application rate，and their interaction on the yield and agronomic traits of maize，and to identify the optimal planting density and suitable fertilizer rate，maize variety Huangjin Xiaoyumi was used as the test material，and a field experiment with two factor split-plot design was conducted. The main plots consisted of four planting densities：5 500 plants per 667 m²（D1），6 500 plants per 667 m²（D2），7 500 plants per 667 m²（D3），8 500 plants per 667 m²（D4）．The subplots comprised three fertilizer application rates：15 kg per 667 m² of compound fertilizer as base fertilizer and 10 kg per 667 m² of compound fertilizer as topdressing（M1），15 kg per 667 m² of compound fertilizer as base fertilizer and 20 kg per 667 m² of compound fertilizer as topdressing（M2），and 15 kg per 667 m² of compound fertilizer as base fertilizer and 30 kg per 667 m² of compound fertilizer as topdressing（M3）. Results showed that under different planting densities，the D2 treatment had the highest yield and was significantly （p0.05）higher than D3 treatment and D4 treatment. Under different fertilization application rates，the M3 treatment had the highest yield and was significantly higher than M1 treatment. Under the interaction between planting density and fertilizer application rates，the D2M2 treatment had the highest yield，which reached 597.50 kg per 667 m² and was significantly or highly significantly （p0.01） higher than other treatments，except that the D2M3 treatment showed no significant differences compared with D2M2. Therefore，the proper planting density of Huangjin Xiaoyumi was 6 500 plants per 667 m². Under this density，applying 15 kg compound fertilizer as base fertilizer and 20-30 kg compound fertilizer per 667 m² as topdressing could obtain a better yield.

Key words: maize, Huangjin Xiaoyumi, planting density, fertilizer application rate, yield