ANOVA results showed that the difference in daily ET between homogeneous and layered soils was significant (Table 4). The daily ET was significantly (p < 0.05) lower in homogeneous soil than in layered soil, and the differences in initial soil moisture content was insignificant. Therefore, the differences in the daily ET of summer maize were mainly due to differences in leaf transpiration area, thus suggesting that the latter was greater in layered soil. Therefore, maize growth in the silt sandy loam–loam layered soil was better than in the silt sandy–loam homogeneous soil because layered soil has higher water and nutrient-holding capacities (He et al. 2013).