Quantitative design and production methods for sustainably increasing maize grain yield and resource use efficiency

Highlights

	● The current key limiting factors for maize yield were summarized.
	● Applying quantitative design to greenly increase maize grain yield.
	● The green production methods can improve resource use efficiency and reduce environment burden.

Abstract

Due to continuous increases in the global population and the limited availability of arable land resources, issues related to food security have attracted increasing attention. Maize is the most productive and most widely planted food crop in China and has the highest yield potential among different crops. Increasing the yield of maize per unit area has become one of the key goals in agriculture in China. This study summarized the key limiting factors, such as solar radiation, temperature, water, soil resources and extreme weather events that currently limit the yield and resource use efficiency of maize production, as well as the main problems existing in the process of maize production, such as unsuitable cultivar selection, low planting density and inappropriate fertilizer application. Then the maize population was optimized on the basis of quantitative design principles. By this approach, crop planting density was matched with solar radiation levels, the population structure was matched with appropriate cultivars, and the plow layer-root system-canopy functions were matched with grain yield to ensure increases in grain yield and resource use efficiency in maize production. These factors can significantly improve maize production and related economic benefits, reduce production costs and environmental burdens, and provide a scientific basis and technical support for realizing sustainable agricultural development in China.

Graphical abstract

Keywords

Maize / high yield / green production / quantitative design

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Acknowledgements

This research was supported by National Key R&D Program of China (2023YFD2301703, 2023YFD1900603), Central Public-interest Scientific Institution Basal Research Fund (CAAS-ZDRW202418), Agricultural Science and Technology Innovation Program (CAAS-ZDRW202004), and Talent project of key laboratory for crop improvement and regulation in North China (NCCIR2023RC-4).

Compliance with ethics guidelines

Huaxiang Ji, Guangzhou Liu, Wanmao Liu, Yunshan Yang, Xiaoxia Guo, Guoqiang Zhang, Zhiqiang Tao, Shaokun Li, and Peng Hou declare that they have no conflicts of interest or financial conflicts to disclose. This article does not contain any studies with human or animal subjects performed by any of the authors.

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The Author(s) 2025. Published by Higher Education Press. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0)