In order to investigate the relationships between tree crown size and water consumption of rainfed
jujube plantations,soil moisture under different conditions ( natural planting,high-density dwarfing,
stem-cutting,extreme dwarfing and pruning with different intensities ) were measured by using the
CNC100 neutron gauges,meanwhile,water balance method was used to calculate the water consumption
and water use efficiency of above-mentioned jujube plantations. Results showed that compared with
natural plantation,high-density dwarfed jujube trees reduced annual water consumption of 6. 54 mm and
water consumption depth of 13. 3 cm,respectively. Moreover,it increased the water use efficiency to
1. 8 kg /m3 ( the lowest for natural jujube plantation was 2. 1 kg /m3 ) . The soil moisture restoration of
12 years old cutting stem jujube plantation reached 460 cm depth in the third year ( 153. 3 cm per year on
average) ,which was 3. 41 times faster than the formation of soil dry layer. Extremely dwarfed jujube with
half of normal crown size decreased the water consumption by 25% and improved the water use efficiency
by 1. 26 times of natural jujube plantation,respectively. Pruning is an effective approach to improve soil
water status and water use efficiency in jujube plantation because of the close relationship between crown
size and jujube water usage. Furthermore,the reasonable pruning intensity,which aimed to obtain high
yield and water use efficiency,should be determined based on local rainfall considering its high
variability in the semi-arid Loess Plateau.
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