Nitrogen fertilizer reduction is an effective way to reduce environmental pressure, achieve higher yield and higher efficiency use for sustainable agriculture. To evaluate the feasibility of reduced N fertilizer application under years continuous maize straw returning, the nitrogen application rate of ordinary farmers（270 kg/ha） was used as the control, and the nitrogen application rate of ordinary farmers was set at four levels of 1/9, 2/9, 1/3 and 4/9, respectively. The effects of different nitrogen fertilizer reduction on maize yield, harvest index and nitrogen use were studied. The results showed that the yield and biomass did not decrease significantly, but the harvest index increased significantly. The N concentration of stem was not significantly affected by N fertilizer reduction, but the N concentration of grain and the N absorption of stem and grain were significantly reduced by 1/3 and 4/9 nitrogen fertilizer reduction. In addition, with the increase of N fertilizer reduction, the partial productivity of N increased significantly. In conclusion, under the condition of N fertilizer reduction by 2/9, corn yield and N utilization efficiency could be fully coordinated, which was the optimal N fertilizer reduction treatment.