Soil infertility is the main barrier to dryland agricultural production in China. To provide a basis for the establishment of a soil amelioration technical system for rainfed fields in the semiarid area of northwest China, we conducted a four—year (2007–2011) field experiment to determine the effects of wheat straw incorporation on the arid soil nutrient levels of cropland cultivated with winter wheat after different straw incorporation levels. Three wheat straw incorporation levels were tested (H: 9000 kg hm^-2, M: 6000 kg hm^-2, and L: 3000 kg hm^-2) and no straw incorporation was used as the control (CK). The levels of soil nutrients, soil organic carbon (SOC), soil labile organic carbon (LOC), and enzyme activities were analyzed each year after the wheat harvest. After straw incorporation for four years, the results showed that variable straw amounts had different effects on the soil fertility indices, where treatment H had the greatest effect. Compared with CK, the average soil available N, available P, available K, SOC, and LOC levels were higher in the 0–40 cm soil layers after straw incorporation treatments, i.e., 9.1–30.5%, 9.8–69.5%, 10.3–27.3%, 0.7–23.4%, and 44.4–49.4% higher, respectively. On average, the urease, phosphatase, and invertase levels in the 0–40 cm soil layers were 24.4–31.3%, 9.9–36.4%, and 42.9–65.3% higher, respectively. Higher yields coupled with higher nutrient contents were achieved with H, M and L compared with CK, where these treatments increased the crop yields by 26.75%, 21.51%, and 7.15%, respectively.

The soil degradation caused by conventional tillage in rain-fed areas of northwest China is known to reduce the water–use efficiency and crop yield because of reduced soil porosity and the decreased availability of soil water and nutrients. Thus, we investigated the effects of straw incorporation on soil aggregates with different straw incorporation rates in semiarid areas of southern Ningxia for a three-year period (2008–2010). Four treatments were tested: (i) no straw incorporation (CK); (ii) incorporation of maize straw at a low rate of 4 500 kg ha⁻¹ (L); (iii) incorporation of maize straw at a medium rate of 9000 kg ha⁻¹ (M); (iv) incorporation of maize straw at a high rate of 13 500 kg ha⁻¹ (H). The results in the final year of treatments (2010) showed that the mean soil organic carbon storage of the 0–60 cm soil layers were significantly (P<0.05) increased with H, M, and L, by 21.40%, 20.38% and 8.21% compared with CK, respectively. Straw incorporation increased >0.25 mm water-stable macroaggregates level, geometric mean diameter, mean weight diameter and the aggregate stability, which were ranked in order of increasing straw incorporation rates: H/M > L > CK. Straw incorporation significantly (P<0.05) reduced the fractal dimension in the 0–40 cm soil layers compared with CK. Our results suggest that straw incorporation is an effective practice for improving the soil aggregate structure and stability.

Because of inadequate nutrient and water supply, soils are often unproductive in Northwest China. We studied the effects of manure application at low (LM 7.5 t ha^–1), medium (MM 15 t ha^–1), and high (HM 22.5 t ha^–1) rates combined with fixed levels of chemical fertilizers on maize growth and rainfall use efficiency compared with chemical fertilizers (CK) under semi-arid conditions over a three-year period. HM and MM treatments could significantly increase soil water storage (0–120 cm) at tasseling stage of maize compared with LM treatment and CK (P < 0.05). Dry matter accumulation and rainfall use efficiency increased as manure application rate increasing (P < 0.05). HM treatment significantly increased rainfall use efficiency by 6.5–12.7% at big trumpeting – tasseling stage compared with LM and MM treatments. HM and MM treatments increased rainfall use efficiency by 8.6–18.1% at tasseling – grain filling stage compared with CK. There was no significant difference on biomass between HM and MM treatments at grain filling and maturity stages of maize in 2009 and 2010.

In China, the ridge-furrow water conservation planting (RC) system is advantageous for improving crop yields and rainwater use efficiency. In RC planting system, plastic film-mulched ridges are employed for water harvesting while the furrows serve as infiltration and planting belts. To optimize the RC system and to overcome problems due to the lack of water in semi-humid areas at risk of drought, we mulched the furrows with 8% biodegradable film (RCSB), liquid film (RCSL), or no mulching in the furrows (RCSN), while conventional flat planting (CF) was employed as the control. After four year (2007-2010) consecutive field study, the results showed that the soil water storage level in the 0-100 cm layer with four treatments was ranked as follow: RCSB>RCSL>RCSN>CF, while the RCSB and RCSL were 26.3 and 12.2 mm greater than RCSN, respectively. Compared with CF, the average soil temperature was significantly (P<0.05) higher by 3.1, 1.7, and 1.5 ℃ under the RC planting treatments (RCSB, RCSL, and RCSN) during each year, respectively. The average ET rate of RC treatments were all lower than CF in each experimental year, and the average decreased by 8.0% (P<0.05). The average yields with RCSB, RCSL, and RCSN increased by 2665, 1444, and 1235 kg ha–1, respectively, and the water use efficiency (WUE) increased by 51.6%, 25.6%, and 21.1%, compared with CF. RCSB obtained the highest economic benefit, the average net income was higher than CF by 4020 Yuan ha–1. In conclusion, we found that RC planting with biodegradable film mulching in the furrows is the best cultivation pattern in the semi-humid areas of China in terms of both environmental and economic benefits.