| To investigate the effects of water deficit irrigation at different growth stages and nitrogen nutrition on the
growth of summer maize, a pot experiment was conducted, including five soil moisture treatments(high soil moisture at the whole growth stages, water deficit at seedling stage, water deficit at jointing stage，water deficit at filling stage, and water deficit at maturing stage) and 4 nitrogen fertilization rates(0, 0.1, 0.3, and 0.5 g/kg soil)that were referred to
as N0, N1, N2, and N3 in tum. The results showed that soil water deficit at different growth stages had different inhibi-tion effect on maize growth with different nitrogen fertilization levels. The effect of soil water deficit on shoots was more apparent than root and increased root/shoot ratio (RSR). Water deficit at seedling stage could affect plant height, leaf area and dry matter accumulation, while a compensation effect was apparent after rewatering. W ater deficit at jointing stage could obviously affect plant height, leaf area and dry matter accumulation, but had no compensation effect after rewatering. W ater deficit at flling stage could not obviously affect plant height but had obvious effects on leaf area and dry matter of plant. w ater deficit at maturing stage did not have obvious effect on plant growth. Nitrogen fertilizer had certain influence on the maize growth and the accumulation of dry matter, and 0.1 g/kg soil rate had the best effect on the growth of maize plant under the test soil fertility condition. At jointing stage and flling stage, water and nitrogen interac-tion had a highly significant influence on shoot dry matter and root dry matter, and had respectively significant and highly significant effect on RSR, while it had no significant effects on various indicators , at seedling or maturing stage |