Abstract: Drought with less rainfall is one of the main factors affecting the high quality, high yield, and stability of apples on the Loess Plateau in western China. Ridging and film mulching in the tree tray with rows clearing (F) have currently been the most commonly-used mulching modes to preserve soil moisture in apple orchards. However, moisture preservation still needs to be improved. In this study, a fixed point test was carried out over three years to investigate the effects of different mulching patterns on soil moisture contents before flowering, in the fruit expansion stage and after harvest, as well as nutrient effects and tree growth response. A 17-year-old apple orchard was also selected in the main apple-producing area of the Loess Plateau in east Gansu Province, China. Specifically, the ridge mulching of tree trays (F) was combined with the straw mulching between rows to form a whole garden mulching model (F+W), whereas, the water seepage holes were added on the sides of the film in a row to form a three-dimensional moisture preservation model (F+W+H), with no ridging and no coverage as the control (CK). The results showed that the average moisture content of 0-100 cm soil layer in the three phases of three mulching patterns was higher than that of CK in 2015 (drought year), of which 0-100 cm soil layer in 2016 (Autumn drought year), and 0-100 cm and 100-200 cm soil layer in 2017 (normal rainfall) of both F+W+H and F+W were extremely significant (P<0.01), while F significant (P<0.05) higher than CK. There was also no significant decrease in the inter-annual average moisture contents of 400-500 cm soil layer of F+W+H and 300-500 cm soil layer of F+W after harvest, but those of F and CK decreased significantly. The total evapotranspiration of 0-500 cm soil layer was ranked in order of F+W+H
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