Abstract:In order to improve the sustainability of land production,and select a suitable ridge-mulching materialfor sainfoin production in ridge-furrow rainwater harvesting system in semi-arid regions of China.A fieldexperiment was conducted to determine the effects of three ridge mulching materials (common plastic film,CPF;biodegradable mulching film,BMF;manually compacted soil,MCS) and furrow to ridge ratios (60∶30,60∶45 and 60∶60 cm) on soil moisture,winter survival rate,plant height,branch number,fodder yield,water consumptionand water use efficiency during sainfoin growing seasons in 2016,and the traditional flat planting(TFP) was used as a control.The results showed that the soil moisture of 40~140 cm soil layer was not significantlydifferent among all treatments in the greening period,but it was significant after harvest.Compared withTFP,the soil water storage (0~200 cm) increased by 10.64,9.36 and 2.09 mm,winter survival rate increasedby 23.6%,18.1% and 8.2%,plant height increased by 56.6%,47.7% and 21.9%,branch number increased by30.6%,25.8% and 7.8%,net hay yield increased by 184.9%,161.5% and 109.3%,water consumption increasedby 40.5%,30.1% and 16.1%,water use efficiency increased by 23.4,22.7 and 17.8 kg/(ha·mm)during the sainfoin growth season,respectively for CPF,BMF and MCS.Under the same mulching material,thesoil moisture,winter survival rate,plant height,branch number,hay yield,water consumption increased with theincreasing of ridge width.Due to the better environmental protection effect of biodegradable mulching film,theridge-furrow rainfall harvesting with ridge mulching biodegradable mulching film was the best way for sainfoinproduction in semi-arid area.