Abstract: The application of traditional urea usually causes low efficiency of nutrient utilization, and environmental pollution, due to the excessive use of fertilizers, and mismatching between the nutrient release stage of fertilizers and the growth stage of crops. The controlled-release fertilizer, serving as a promising new fertilizer, can be used to improve nutrient use efficiency and crop yields via adjusting the stage of nutrient release. The objective of this study was therefore to explore the effects of controlled-release fertilizers in different release periods, and the nitrogen levels in irrigation water on winter wheat yield. A field experiment was conducted in the Modern Agriculture Demonstration Park, Wugong Town, Xianyang City, Shaanxi Province, China. The optimum combinations of water and fertilizer inputs were determined for both single-objective and multi-objective optimizations through the frequency and multiple regression analysis method. The main, sub, and sub-sub plots were designed in the field experiments. In the main zone plots, three irrigation levels were set as W1 (30 mm), W2 (60 mm), and W3 (90 mm). The sub plots comprised of four nitrogen fertilization levels, including N0 (0 kg/hm2), N1 (75 kg/hm2), N2 (150 kg/hm2), and N3 (225 kg/hm2). The sub-sub plots included three different nitrogen fertilizer types, namely PCU60 (a controlled-release fertilizer with a release periods of 60 days), PCU120 (a controlled-release fertilizer with a release periods of 120 days), and U (traditional urea). A controlled release fertilizer was applied at one time during planting, where the application mode of traditional nitrogen fertilizer (U) as a control. The effect of water and nitrogen dosage on winter wheat yield was clarified under the condition of controlled-release fertilizer, thereby to propose the optimal range of water and fertilizer dosage in various fertilizers. The results showed that the amount of irrigation water, nitrogen application rates, and different types of controlled-release fertilizer had significant effects on the spike number, grain number per spike, 1000-kernal mass, amount of dry matte, and grain yield of winter wheat. The interaction between two factors also had a significant impact on the grain yield. In the same irrigation levels, the winter wheat yield increased first, and then decreased with increasing nitrogen fertilizer application levels, where the maximum was obtained when the application rate of nitrogen fertilizer was 150 kg/hm2. In the same nitrogen fertilizer levels, the winter wheat yield increased first, and then decreased with increasing the irrigation levels, where the maximum was achieved, when the irrigation level was 60 mm. The interaction effect between the type of controlled release fertilizer and the amount of irrigation/nitrogen application showed that: compared with the U treatment, with the increase of irrigation levels, the average yield of PCU60 increased by 308 kg/hm2, and PCU120 decreased by 270 kg/hm2; on the contrary, with the increase of nitrogen application rates, the average yield of PCU60 decreased by 289 kg/hm2, and PCU120 increased by 118 kg/hm2. According to the water and nitrogen production functions of three fertilizers, the yield-increasing effects of two controlled-release fertilizers were 14.31% (PCU120) and 12.08% (PCU60), respectively, under the water and nitrogen application when the U achieved the highest theoretical yield of 6 823 kg/hm2. In a frequency analysis, the most appropriate ranges of water and nitrogen for different fertilizer types were: 67.20-70.22 mm and 145.42-187.91 kg/hm2 under the PCU60 fertilizer treatment; 47.72-52.28 mm and 159.23-199.47 kg/hm2 under the PCU120 fertilizer treatment; 77.51-79.99 mm and 167.55-207.45 kg/hm2 under the U treatment. The yield-increasing ranges were 7 647-7 719 kg/hm2 (PCU60), 7 744-7 906 kg/hm2 (PCU120), and 6 733-6 823 kg/hm2 (U) under the most appropriate ranges of water and nitrogen application for different fertilizer types, respectively. Therefore, it can be recommended that an optimal irrigation level (47.72-52.28 mm) and fertilizer application (PCU120, 159.23-199.47 kg/hm2) ranges can be considered as the best water and fertilizer management strategy for maximizing water-fertilizer productivity of winter wheat.