Abstract: Abstract: In order to investigate the impacts of autumn irrigation after mulching on water-heat-salt conditions during maize growth in the next spring in cold-drought-salt irrigation district, field experiments was carried out in the saline soil in Hetao irrigation district (located at 40°92′N、107°18′E) from October 2013 to October 2015. There were 5 treatments including mulching with 0.9 kg/m2 straw (F0.9), 0.6 kg/m2 straw (F0.6), whole maize straw (YZ) and plastic film (DM), and no mulching (CK). The maize straw was chopped into 3-5 cm length after harvesting in the treatment of F0.6 and F0.9. The YZ treatment used the whole maize straw with amount of 6 plants per meter. The plastic film was white polythene film in width of 70 cm, thickness of 0.020 mm, and spacing among film was 40 cm. The plot for each treatment had a length of 8 m and a width of 5 m. Each treatment replicated 3 times. The soil was loam with bulk density of 1.48 g/cm3 and pH value of 8.01. The straw and plastic film was mulched on 31st, October. The irrigation carried out on 1st, November with amount of 150 mm. The maize was planted in the next April. It was harvested on 25th, September. Measured items included soil moisture, electrical conductivity, soil temperature, maize yield, biological yield, and economic coefficients. The electrical conductivity was converted into soil salinity by an empirical equation. Groundwater depth was observed during the experimental process. The results showed that the average soil temperature at 0-20 cm was 16.07 oC for F0.9, 16.66 oC for F0.6, 16.64 oC for YZ, 20.08 oC for DM, and 18.59 oC for CK, respectively. The straw mulching decreased soil temperature and did not facilitate rapid growth of maize. During the non-frozen period, the groundwater depth averaged 1.57 m during the 2 years. The soil moisture at 0-20 cm averaged 26%-30% for the mulching treatment and 22.68% for the CK. The soil water storage was significantly higher in the straw mulching treatment than in the CK. The soil water storage of YZ was highest among the treatments. The soil salinity at 0-40 cm averaged 0.82, 0.76, 0.71,1.05 and 1.38 g/kg for the treatment of F0.9, F0.6, YZ, DM and CK, respectively. The treatment of YZ had the lowest soil salinity and could effectively inhibit soil salinization. Dynamics of soil salinity showed that the soil salinity at the mature stage of maize was higher than that before sowing at 0-20 cm while that at 60-120 cm was lower than that before sowing except for CK. The YZ treatment had the best salinization control effect. The grain yield of mulching was significantly higher than that of CK (P<0.05). Compared with CK, the treatments of YZ, F0.9, F0.6 and DM increased the grain yield by 108.79%, 82.75%, 58.55% and 68.05%, respectively (P<0.05). The biological yield of YZ was higher than DM, F0.6 and F0.9 and that of CK was lowest. The economic coefficient of YZ and F0.9 was 19. 91% and 24.15% higher than that of CK(P<0.05), respectively. Overall, the treatment of YZ and F0.9 had the highest yield and economic coefficient. This study provides valuable information for application and development of autumn irrigation after mulching technology in Hetao irrigation district.