Table 1.
Properties of the tested soil in the experiment sites in 2014–2015.
Fig 1.
Dry weight per plant in different growth periods of maize under various treatments.
Note: V6, jointing (V6); V12, big trumpet; R1, silking (R1); R3, milk-ripe; and R5, maturity. A stands for cultivars: A1, ZH311; A2, XY508. B stands for N treatments: B0, 0 kg·ha-1; B1, 150 kg·ha-1; B2, 300 kg·ha-1; and B3, 450 kg·ha-1.The point in R5 indicates soluble sugar content in grains.
Fig 2.
Dry weight per plant of maize in the seedling stage under different nitrogen treatments (2016).
Note: N0, 0.04 mM; N2, 4 mM.
Fig 3.
Soluble sugar content in different growth periods of maize under various treatments.
Note: V6, jointing (V6); V12, big trumpet; R1, silking (R1); R3, milk-ripe; and R5, maturity. A stands for cultivars: A1, ZH311; A2, XY508. B stands for N treatments: B0, 0 kg·ha-1; B1, 150 kg·ha-1; B2, 300 kg·ha-1; and B3, 450 kg·ha-1.The point in R5 indicates soluble sugar content in grains.
Fig 4.
Soluble sugar content in the bracts at maturity under different nitrogen treatments.
Note: B0, 0 kg·ha-1; B1, 150 kg·ha-1; B2, 300 kg·ha-1, and B3, 450 kg·ha-1.
Table 2.
Soluble sugar content in maize at the seedling stage under different nitrogen treatments (mg g-1).
Fig 5.
Starch content in different growth periods of maize under various treatments.
Note: V6, jointing (V6); V12, big trumpet; R1, silking (R1); R3, milk-ripe; and R5, maturity. A stands for cultivars: A1, ZH311; A2, XY508. B stands for N treatments: B0, 0 kg·ha-1; B1, 150 kg·ha-1; B2, 300 kg·ha-1; and B3, 450 kg·ha-1.The point in R5 indicates soluble sugar content in grains.
Fig 6.
Starch content in the bracts at maturity under different nitrogen treatments.
Note: B0, 0 kg·ha-1; B1, 150 kg·ha-1; B2, 300 kg·ha-1; B3, 450 kg·ha-1.
Table 3.
Starch content in maize at the seedling stage under different nitrogen treatments (mg g-1).
Fig 7.
NSC content in different growth periods of maize under various treatments.
Note: V6, jointing (V6); V12, big trumpet; R1, silking (R1); R3, milk-ripe; and R5, maturity. A stands for cultivars: A1, ZH311; A2, XY508. B stands for N treatments: B0, 0 kg·ha-1; B1, 150 kg·ha-1; B2, 300 kg·ha-1; and B3, 450 kg·ha-1.The point in R5 indicates soluble sugar content in grains.
Fig 8.
NSC contents of bracts under different nitrogen treatments.
Note: B0-0 kg·ha−1; B1-150 kg·ha−1; B2-300 kg·ha−1; B3- 450 kg·ha−1.
Table 4.
NSC in maize at the seedling stage (mg g-1).
Table 5.
Apparent transferred mass, apparent ratio of transferred, and apparent contribution of transferred NSC from the stems to grains under different nitrogen treatments.