Abstract: The summer maize cultivar-Zhengdan 958 was selected as a test object to study the effects of different drought levels on its growth and yield at different growth stages.The experimental control of soil water content was carried out at the stages from emergence to jointing and from emergence to tasselling.The results show that all of the soil water shortage experiments have a negative effect on the growth of maize,characterizing as shorter height,lower leaf area,and less dry matter weight.Compared with the control treatment-T5,the plant height,leaf area index,ear length,grain number per ear and 100-grain weight under T1 treatment decrease 33.5%,60.7%,18.3%,54.7% and 22.5% respectively,and these indices under T3 treatment decrease 35.8%,58.8%,24.1%,58.9% and 24.4%,respectively.So,drought is a key factor to influence the yield of maize in North China.The more severe the drought is and the longer it lasts,the more negative effects it brings on the dry matter accumulation and yield of maize.