{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,9]],"date-time":"2026-10-09T03:08:46Z","timestamp":1791515326312,"version":"4.3.4"},"reference-count":69,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,10]],"date-time":"2026-08-10T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1786320000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Plant Sci."],"abstract":"<jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Introduction<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Increasing planting density and partial substitution of chemical fertilizer with organic fertilizer are important strategies for improving maize yield. However, how their interaction regulates dry matter accumulation, translocation, and grain-filling characteristics to affect yield formation remains unclear.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>\n                      A three-year field experiment (2023\u20132025) was conducted with three planting densities (70,000, 100,000, and 130,000 plants ha\n                      <jats:sup>\u22121<\/jats:sup>\n                      ) and four fertilization treatments (no fertilization, chemical fertilizer only, and 17% and 34% organic fertilizer substitution) to evaluate canopy light interception, dry matter accumulation and translocation, grain -filling characteristics, and yield formation.\n                    <\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Results and discussion<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>\n                      The results showed that 17% organic fertilizer substitution improved radiation use efficiency at silking by 7.76%\u201320.42%. Although increasing planting density reduced per-plant dry matter accumulation by 20.29%\u201336.53%, 17% organic fertilizer substitution improved dry matter partitioning and partly alleviated the reductions in grain-filling duration and grain weight. Random forest analysis identified aboveground biomass accumulation as the primary predictor of yield and showed that maximum and mean grain-filling rates contributed more strongly to yield prediction than the active grain-filling period. Partial least squares path modeling further revealed that yield reduction under high density was mainly attributed to suppressed post-silking dry matter accumulation, while fertilization promoted dry matter accumulation and translocation, thereby strengthening their positive contributions to grain filling and yield formation. Across three growing seasons, 100,000 plants ha\n                      <jats:sup>\u22121<\/jats:sup>\n                      with 17% organic fertilizer substitution (D2F2) increased yield by 7.46%\u201323.83% compared with conventional management (D1F1). Therefore, D2F2 may serve as a promising management option for improving dry matter translocation, grain filling, and maize yield. These results provide valuable references for optimizing density\u2013fertilization management in semi-arid maize production systems.\n                    <\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.3389\/fpls.2026.1913471","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,10]],"date-time":"2026-08-10T04:23:12Z","timestamp":1786335792000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":1,"title":["Optimized planting density and organic fertilizer substitution improve maize yield by enhancing dry matter translocation and grain-filling characteristics"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"17","author":[{"given":"Liping","family":"Liu","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"State Key Laboratory of Efficient Utilization of Agricultural Water Resources","place":["Beijing, China"]},{"name":"National Field Observation and Research Station (Gansu Wuwei) for Efficient Water Utilization in Oasis Agriculture","place":["Wuwei, China"]},{"name":"Center for Agricultural Water Research in China, China Agricultural University","place":["Beijing, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Yonghui","family":"Dai","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"State Key Laboratory of Efficient Utilization of Agricultural Water Resources","place":["Beijing, China"]},{"name":"National Field Observation and Research Station (Gansu Wuwei) for Efficient Water Utilization in Oasis Agriculture","place":["Wuwei, China"]},{"name":"Center for Agricultural Water Research in China, China Agricultural University","place":["Beijing, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Wenlong","family":"Wang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"State Key Laboratory of Efficient Utilization of Agricultural Water Resources","place":["Beijing, China"]},{"name":"National Field Observation and Research Station (Gansu Wuwei) for Efficient Water Utilization in Oasis Agriculture","place":["Wuwei, China"]},{"name":"Center for Agricultural Water Research in China, China Agricultural University","place":["Beijing, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Yurong","family":"Chang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"State Key Laboratory of Efficient Utilization of Agricultural Water Resources","place":["Beijing, China"]},{"name":"National Field Observation and Research Station (Gansu Wuwei) for Efficient Water Utilization in Oasis Agriculture","place":["Wuwei, China"]},{"name":"Center for Agricultural Water Research in China, China Agricultural University","place":["Beijing, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Yining","family":"Ma","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"State Key Laboratory of Efficient Utilization of Agricultural Water Resources","place":["Beijing, China"]},{"name":"National Field Observation and Research Station (Gansu Wuwei) for Efficient Water Utilization in Oasis Agriculture","place":["Wuwei, China"]},{"name":"Center for Agricultural Water Research in China, China Agricultural University","place":["Beijing, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Risheng","family":"Ding","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"State Key Laboratory of Efficient Utilization of Agricultural Water Resources","place":["Beijing, China"]},{"name":"National Field Observation and Research Station (Gansu Wuwei) for Efficient Water Utilization in Oasis Agriculture","place":["Wuwei, China"]},{"name":"Center for Agricultural Water Research in China, China Agricultural University","place":["Beijing, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Shaozhong","family":"Kang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"State Key Laboratory of Efficient Utilization of Agricultural Water Resources","place":["Beijing, China"]},{"name":"National Field Observation and Research Station (Gansu Wuwei) for Efficient Water Utilization in Oasis Agriculture","place":["Wuwei, China"]},{"name":"Center for Agricultural Water Research in China, China Agricultural University","place":["Beijing, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Ling","family":"Tong","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"State Key Laboratory of Efficient Utilization of Agricultural Water Resources","place":["Beijing, China"]},{"name":"National Field Observation and Research Station (Gansu Wuwei) for Efficient Water Utilization in Oasis Agriculture","place":["Wuwei, China"]},{"name":"Center for Agricultural Water Research in China, China Agricultural University","place":["Beijing, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,10]]},"reference":[{"key":"B1","volume-title":"Crop Evapotranspiration: Guidelines for Computing Crop Water Requirements. 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