A two-year field experiment was conducted to investigate the plant biomass at different growth periods,nitrogen accumulation and the distribution characteristics at maturing stage, and the effects of different potassium fertilizer management modes on maize yield, potassium utilization efficiency and translocation efficiency under mulched drip irrigation. Five fertilizer combinations were evaluated, including K0（no potassium fertilizer）, K1（100% basal fertilizer）, K2（basal fertilizer:jointing fertilizer = 50%:50%）, K3（basal fertilize:jointing fertilizer:belling fertilizer = 50%:30%:20%）and K4（basal fertilizer:jointing fertilizer:belling fertilizer:flowering fertilizer = 50%:20%:15%:15%）. The results revealed that maize yield of K2, K3 and K4 treatments were higher than that of K1 treatment under different potassium management modes. The yield of K3 treatment was the highest than that of K1 treatment, with the increment of 7.6%（2015）and 9.1%（2016）. The potassium recovery efficiency（REK）, agronomic efficiency（AEK）and partial factor productivity（PFPK）of K2, K3 and K4 treatments were higher than them of K1 treatment, respectively. And REK, AEK and PFPK of K3 treatment were the highest than them of K1 treatment, with the increment of 41.7%, 49.5%, 7.6%（2015）and 7.0%, 68.5%, 9.1%（2016）, respectively. The rational potassium management modes improved the accumulation of dry matter and potassium of maize,enhanced the capacity of potassium absorption and utilization, and promoted the translocation efficiency of plant nutrients after flowering stage. And the translocation efficiency of K3 treatment achieved the highest than that of K1 treatment, with the increment of 20.1%（2015）and 17.7%（2016）. Therefore, the rational potassium management mode was taken 50% as basal fertilizer, 30% at jointing stage and 20% at belling stage with 90 kg/ha of potassium fertilizer under mulched drip irrigation.