Abstract: We designed 3 water treatments including CK (normal irrigation treatment), T1 (water stress since jointing stage) and T2 (water stress since tasseling stage) to discuss the effect of water stress on maize growth and yield. The results showed that: plant height and LAI of maize were sensitive to water stress under T1 treatment and the effects under T2 treatment were not significant; the contribution rate of the accumulated dry matter of vegetative organ to grain decreased under water stress especially the accumulated dry matter of leaves and stems decreased significantly; the accumulated dry matter of leaf sheaths was only sensitive to T1 treatment; water stress had great influence on the ear characteristics of maize and finally caused the yield under T1 and T2 treatment decreased by 62.8% and 37.8% compared with CK. Under water stress treatment, the influence factors on yield have an order as grain number> ear length> 100- grain weight> dry matter transport rate> ear diameter> LAI> biomass.