【Objective】Soil desiccation is a normal phenomenon in plantation forests in the Loess Plateau of China，
which affects the growth and cultivation of plants． This study was conducted to analyze the impacts on soil water of
different pruning and mulching treatments in jujube plantation in order to explore remediation technologies for soil
desiccation in this region． 【Method】The study sites was located in Mizhi County，Shaanxi Province，and the jujube trees
were grown under rain-fed conditions． Soil moisture under 10 types of land surface management practices(4 different
pruning intensities: traditional，slight，moderate and heavy pruning; 3 mulching treatments using straw，gravel and plastic
film; traditional pruning + no mulching; heavy pruning + plastic film mulching; and farmland) were measured with
CNC100 neutron gauges in 2012—2015．【Ｒesult】The soil desiccation in 15-year-old jujube plantation reached 560 cm in
depth and annual water consumption was 19． 7 mm more than the farmland． The degree of soil moisture improvement was
increased with the increase of pruning intensity． The soil water storage within the top 300 cm soil layer of jujube
plantations under straw，plastic film and gravel mulching treatments was 31． 8 －43． 1，69． 9 －71． 4，and 84． 0 －92． 7 mm
respectively higher than that of no mulching jujube plantation． The combination of heavy pruning and plastic film mulching
improved the soil moisture in growth periods and reduced the soil water loss in dormancy periods effectively，and underthus treatment soil moisture within 0 － 300 cm depth could recover to the same level as farmland in rainy years．
【Conclusion】Practices combining pruning with mulching were more effective in conserving water in jujube plantation，
thus，more helpful in preventing and mitigating the desiccation of deep soil in plantations in the semi-arid regions．
修改评论