Dry matter is the foundation of yie

Dry matter is the foundation of yield formation, and approximately
95% of grain yield is from photosynthate produced during the grain
filling period (Li et al., 2015a,b; Tollenaar and Daynard, 1982; Saidou
et al., 2003; Chen, 1994). Previous studies show that dry matter accumulation during post-silking had a primary determination on grain
yield (Ma et al., 2010; Zhou et al., 2016). In high-yield maize, dry
matter during post-silking accounts for more than 60% of the total dry
matter (Liu et al., 2011). In our study, this was about 50%. The transfer
of photosynthate mainly occurred in the stem below the ear and leaf
above the ear (Table 3). Furthermore, the transfer rate of vegetative
organs was previously determined to be 15% (Yang et al., 2012), which
was higher than that in this study, however, lower yield than our study,
which may be due to the early senescence of leaves because of higher
transfer rate from vegetation organs.