Deep placement controlled release N fertilizer increases N use efficiency but it is expensive.Few studies have examined the effects of conventional fertilizer deep placement.Therefore,a two-year field experiment with two N rates(120 and 195 kg N ha-1)and four N application treatments(D0,D50,D70,and D100 mean 0%,50%,70%,and 100%N was deep placed as basal fertilizer,respectively)was conducted to study the optimum ratio of basal deep placement to topdressing and its effect on soil N distribution and plant N utilization in direct-seeded rice.Basal N deep placement increased soil total N and available N concentrations.A significant difference in soil total N concentration between D100 and D0 was observed at 0,6,and 12 cm lateral distance away from deep placement line both at mid-tillering and heading.Despite D100 had the highest dry matter and N accumulation from seeding to mid-tillering,lack of N supply during the reproductive period resulted in obvious lower dry matter accumulation from heading to maturity,and the grain yield in D100 was lower than in D0,D50,and D70 by 11.6%,15.5%and 14.1%,respectively.Although topdressing was applied only one time as panicle fertilizer in D70,no significant difference was observed in N concentration in plant parts between D70 and D50 at heading,and in grain yield.N agronomic efficiency and N recovery efficiency in D70 was 2.4%and 3.3%higher than in D0,respectively.Considering the labor cost saved in D70,it was concluded that 70%N fertilizer deep placed as basal,and 30%as panicle fertilizer is a good approache to synchronously increase the grain yield and N use efficiency and save labor in direct-seeded rice.