The dense tolerant maize variety ‘Nendan 18’was used as the test material. Two planting densities of 60 000 plants/ha and 75 000 plants/ha were set and four nitrogen application rates of 0（N0）, 120 kg/ha（N1）, 240 kg/ha（N2） and 360 kg/ha（N3） adopted. The effects of planting density and nitrogen application rate on the dry matter accumulation characteristics, nitrogen transport efficiency, nitrogen use efficiency, yield and its components of the dense tolerant maize variety ‘Nendan 18’were studied. The results showed that under the same planting density,1 000-grain weight, grain number per spike, yield, dry matter accumulation per plant, post-anthesis population dry matter quality and nitrogen utilization rate were significantly affected by nitrogen fertilizer application rate. As planting density increased, the 1 000-grain weight and the number of kernels of ‘Nendan 18’decreased significantly while the fertilization level was the same. As the nitrogen application rate increased, the contribution rate of nitrogen assimilation to the grain density decreased after flowering, whereas the contribution of nitrogen transport from vegetative organs to grain increased. This performance was opposite to that of low-density planting, which indicating that nitrogen transport from vegetative organs was the main factor to increase maize yield at high-density conditions.Therefore, according to the characteristics of the variety, increasing the planting density and reducing the amount of nitrogen fertilizer can better coordinate the relationship between the group and the individual, and improve the light energy and nutrient utilization efficiency of the group, thereby higher yield was gotten. Integrated considering maize grain yield and nitrogen fertilizer utilization, the suitable cultivation mode of ‘Nendan 18’was that the planting density at 75 000 plants/ha and the nitrogen application rate at 240 kg/ha.