In order to investigate the effects of straw strip mulching on soil temperature and yield of winter wheat in the semi-arid rain-fed agricultural area of northwest of China, a field experiment was conducted to study the effects of straw strip mulching on soil temperature and yield of winter wheat, with no mulching(CK) as control. There were 5 treatments: 4 rows of straw strip mulching(SM1), 5 rows of straw strip mulching(SM2), black film mulching(PM1), and white film mulching(PM2).The results showed that compared with CK, straw mulching treatment(SM1, SM2) significantly reduced the temperature of 0-25 cm soil layer during the whole growth period of winter wheat. The range of temperature decrease was the greatest at the regreening stage and filling stage, with an average temperature drop of 2.0℃, and the lowest at the overwintering stage, with an average temperature drop of 0.1℃.The cooling range of the upper soil (0-10 cm) was greater than that of the lower soil (15-25 cm), and the cooling effect of SM1 was greater than that of SM2.Mulching showed double effects of increasing temperature and decreasing temperature at different growth stages. The increasing temperature at maturity stage was the largest, with an increase of 2.4 ℃ compared with CK, and the decreasing temperature of 5 cm soil layer at grouting stage was the largest, with a decrease of 1.8 ℃. The changing amplitude of PM1 was greater than PM2.Under mulching treatment, the surface soil temperature showed greatest changes at 14:00, followed by 19:00 in the evening, and showed the least at 7:00 am. The cooling effect of straw mulching (4.9 ℃) was greater than that of mulching film (0.8 ℃).Mulching reduced soil effective accumulated temperature, mulching with plastic film showing significantly higher effect than straw mulching. The yield increase of straw mulching was 9.6% on average, ranking as SM2 > SM1, while that of film mulching was 20.8%, ranking as PM2 > PM1.Among the three yield components, the number of grains per ear was most affected by temperature, which had significant positive correlation with soil temperature in 0-25 cm soil layer and soil effective accumulated temperature at different stages. Considering soil temperature, soil effective accumulated temperature, yield, 1 000-grain weight, and panicle number, SM2 treatment was more conducive to the yield formation of dryland wheat. |