Table 2. Effects of leaf removal on N accumulation (g plant⁻¹) and distribution (%) in remaining tissues at physiological maturity (R6) in 2012 and 2013 growing seasons. S₀ refers to control (no leaf removal); S₂, S₄ and S₆ refer to the removal of two, four or six leaves from top of a plant at three days after silking, respectively.

Years	Treatment	N accumulation in different plant organs at R6 (g plant−1)							N distribution in different plant organs at R6 (%)
		Ear leaf	Stem	Other leaves	Cob	Bract	Grain	Total	Ear leaf	Stem	Other leaves	Cob	Bract	Grain
2012	S0	0.07	0.56	0.75	0.11	0.14	1.56	3.07	2.21	17.66	23.66	3.15	4.10	49.21
	S2	0.10	0.51	0.84	0.12	0.15	1.80	3.52	2.84	14.49	23.86	3.41	4.26	51.14
	S4	0.06	0.68	0.52	0.08	0.09	0.98	2.42	3.18	28.08	21.38	3.10	3.74	40.52
	S6	0.07	0.76	0.40	0.05	0.06	0.83	2.18	3.21	34.86	18.35	2.29	3.21	38.07
	LSD 0.05	0.02	0.04	0.07	0.02	0.02	0.09	0.14	0.25	0.66	0.78	0.15	0.25	2.08
2013	S0	0.07	0.56	0.73	0.10	0.13	1.51	3.10	2.39	18.05	23.44	3.16	4.13	48.74
	S2	0.10	0.50	0.79	0.11	0.13	1.87	3.49	2.54	14.92	22.17	3.12	3.76	53.49
	S4	0.08	0.65	0.55	0.08	0.10	0.94	2.40	3.33	25.08	22.92	3.33	4.17	39.17
	S6	0.09	0.81	0.44	0.05	0.07	0.70	2.16	4.17	37.50	20.37	2.31	3.24	32.41
	LSD 0.05	0.03	0.05	0.04	0.02	0.01	0.11	0.19	0.11	0.56	0.31	0.13	0.17	2.69
ANOVA Year (Y) Leaf removal(L) Y × L		ns ns ns	ns *** ns	ns *** *	ns ** ns	ns ** *	ns *** **	* *** ns	* *** **	** *** **	ns *** *	ns * ns	*** ns	ns *** **
Blocks		ns	ns	ns	ns	ns	ns	ns	ns	ns	ns	ns	ns

Note: R6 means physiological maturity. Data represents means ± SE (n = 3). LSD 0.05, least significant difference at 0.05. ns, Not significance; *Significant at the 0.05 probability level; **Significant at the 0.01 probability level; ***Significant at the 0.001 probability level.