Dense Planting: Key to Closing Maize Yield Gaps and Ensuring Food Security

Rising food demand, propelled by population growth and changing dietary preferences, poses a challenge for closing yield gaps in current cropping areas. Dense planting is a necessary strategy towards meeting this challenge, but more must be done to quantitatively understand the optimal planting density, relying on complex interactions between genotypes, environmental factors, and agronomic management. In this article, we discuss the crucial role of dense planting in closing maize yield gaps, using China's maize production as an example. Dense planting intensifies competition among plants for resources, and targeting the optimal planting density for a certain environment is a key factor in maximizing yield. Since different studies have yielded different results, multi-method analyses improve confidence in assessing the optimal planting density that maximizes resource utilization for the highest grain yield in each farming system. Furthermore, the increasing sensitivity to drought caused by climate change poses a significant hurdle for the continued growth in planting density and maize production. Future research for closing yield gaps through dense planting should address multiple challenges in the changing world, including climate change, resource depletion and shortage, and soil constraints and degradation, to ensure food security.