Abstract: Results of determination of soil moisture,soil temperature,and physiological characteristics of maize growing in plots different in mulching treatment showed that straw mulching could minish the range of variation of soil moisture and temperature in the surface soil layer of 0-10 cm;thus mitigating harm of drought on the crop.The thicker the straw mulching,the more significant the effect.But the effect was limited by soil aridness and growth stage of maize.For instance,at the elongation stage,straw mulching may maintain physiological activity of the crop and significant difference in this effect was observed between Treatment T3(15 t·hm^-2) and other treatments.But along with growth of the crop and increasing frequency of rainfall the difference gradually narrowed.At the milking and maturing stages,the effect was insignificant.Mulching may increase the yield of biomass and grains of the crop.In the experiment,Treatment T1(5 t·hm^-2) was the highest in grain yield whereas Treatment T3 in biomass production.The main reason for that was that the drought occurring at the elongation stage led to fast growth of the crop in Treatment T3,but didn′t affect much the physiological mechanism of the crop in Treatment T1 in the late growing period.

Key words: straw mulching, red soil slopeland, soil moisture, physiological characteristic, summer maize