Stemflow of water on maize and its influencing factors

•Stemflow is important for crop growth in arid regions.•Stem flow of maize is positively correlated to rain amount and LAI.•Great rain intensity may reduce stemflow rate.•Seasonal stemflow generally accounts for approximately 42% of seasonal total rainfall. Stemflow is important for analyzing soil water dynamics and plant growth in regions with limited rainfall. The objective of this study was to determine the amount of stemflow in relation to plant and rainfall properties. In this study, stemflow was measured using a high water adsorption sheet method during the period of maize plant height growth approximately from 100cm to 230cm when the leaf area index increases from 1.0 to 4.5. There were 28 rainfall events with rainfall amounts for each event ranging from 0.4 to 12.6mm and rainfall intensities ranging from 0.4 to 35mm/h. The results show that stemflow increased with increasing total rainfall and leaf area index but decreased with increasing rainfall intensity. Throughout a maize season, stemflow amounts ranged from 10 to 70mm when the total rainfall amounts ranged from 30 to 135mm, with a mean stemflow rate of 0.42. These results may help farmers in irrigation scheduling of maize under surface-mulching conditions in arid region.