A field trial on a calcareous soil was carried out at an experimental station of China Agricultural University with the objective of assessing the effect of reduced nitrogen application on N utilization and N balance in a winter wheat-summer maize cropping system. Before this study, the trial has been conducted for one rotation cycle of wheat and maize with four-fixed N rates of 0, 120, 240 and 360 N kg.hm-2 per crop. In this study, each plot was divided into two sub-plots for two N application rates: normal N application(original rate) and reduced N application(reduced rate). The results showed that the grain yields of wheat and maize reached the platform at N rate of 120 kg.hm-2(N120), and then almost kept the same level regardless of the further increase of N rate(N240 and N360). The N uptake by wheat and maize followed the similar tendency like their yield. The grain yield and N uptake of wheat were not significantly declined with the half reduction of original N rate except the treatment N120. However, the same items in maize significantly declined with the further reduction of N fertilizer to zero. The residual NO3-N(main source of mineral N) in reduced N sub-plots was significantly lower in 0-1 m soil layer, but not different in 1-2 m soil layer compared with those receiving original N rate, indicating that 1-2 m soil NO3-N could hardly be utilized by crops. N balance calculation further showed that the N recovery by crops could be largely raised by the reduction of N fertilizer, while the apparent N loss rate decreased in wheat-maize rotation, respectively. Thus, the reduction of fertilizer N under high N rate can significantly increase N use efficiency and reduce NO3-N accumulation and apparent N loss.