Abstract: Pot experiments with rice were conducted to investigate the nitrogen(N)and potassium (K)distributions in different leaf positions and growth stages．Linear correlation analysis between N，K contents in different leaves，total N，K
content in leaves and the amount of N，K application wore also studied．The results showed that N content increased from upper leaf position to lower position in jointing stage，while the reVerse was obvious in booting stage．K content decreased from upper leaf positiontolower positionin both jointing and booting stages．The differences of N content among leaf positions were investigated following the increasing amount of N application．However，no significant change was observed in K content among different leaf positions when the amount of N appfication was increased．According to the correlation analysis，the first position of rice leaf was suitable for N diagnosis in jointing stage，and the third or the fourth position of rice leaf was suitable for N diagnosis in booting stage．The first position of rice leaf was suitable for K diagnosis in both jointing and booting stages．

Key words: rice, leafposition, nutrition diagnosis