Taking summer maize cultivars Zhenjie 2 (ZJ2), Denghai 605 (DH605), and Zhengdan 958 (ZD958) as test materials, a field trial was conducted to study the effects of shading on the dry matter accumulation and nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P) and potassium (K) absorption of summer maize. Four treatments were installed, i.e., shading from flowering stage to maturity stage (S₁), shading from sixleaf stage to flowering stage (S₂), shading all through the growth season (S₃), and no shading (CK). After shading, the grain yield and dry matter accumulation decreased significantly, and the decrement was related to shading period, showing S₃>S₁>S₂. The grain yield in treatments S₁, S₂, and S₃ was averagely 61.6%, 25.3%, and 92.8% lower than that of CK, respectively, indicating that the effects of shading after flowering were greater than those of shading before flowering. The responses of different cultivars to shading presented a similar trend. The nutrient absorption of summer maize before flowering stage showed K>N>P, and the nutrient absorption amount of whole plant showed N>K>P. After shading, the N and P absorption decreased significantly. The plant relative N and P absorption in different treatments had somewhat increase, because the decrement of dry matter accumulation after shading was larger than that of N and P absorption, as compared with the control. After shading, the plant K absorption decreased significantly, and the decrement in S₂ was larger than that of dry matter accumulation. Shading before flowering stage had larger effects on the plant K absorption than on the N and P absorption.