Abstract: A five-year site-specific experiment was carried out on the Weibei Plain of Loess Plateau in  Shaanxi Province of northwestern China to study the effects of soil moisture regime before sowing (SMBS) and nitrogen fertilization on the grain yield and water use of winter wheat. On the basis of applying 100 kg·hm-2 of P2O5, five nitrogen fertilization levels (0, 80, 160, 240, and 320 kg N·hm-2) were installed, and took the precipitation in the five years into consideration. In the study area, there was a linear correlation between the precipitation in summer (from July to September) and the SMBS, with an increment of 0.6 mm SMBS per 1 mm precipitation. For a stable or high wheat yield, the SMBS should be kept around 550 mm, and the precipitation in summer should be around 370-390 mm. In the years with adequate precipitation (>386 mm) in summer, the SMBS in present winter wheat growth season less decreased by the increase of the nitrogen fertilization rate in previous growth season. However, in the years with less precipitation in summer (<350 mm), the SMBS in present winter wheat growth season decreased significantly by 9-17 mm when the nitrogen fertilization rate in previous growth season was increased by each 100 kg N·hm-2. In addition to SMBS, adequate precipitation in key growth stages was another important factor to ensure the wheat yield in dryland area because 1 mm SMBS could produce 106-114 kg·hm-2 of wheat grain, and 1 mm precipitation occurred in the key growth stages could lead to more grain yield as high as 30.6-33.1 kg·hm-2. Variation analysis showed that nitrogen fertilization rate affected the utilization degree of SMBS by winter wheat, while SMBS controlled the allocation and transportation of dry matter from vegetative parts to grain.

Key words: winter wheat, nitrogen fertilizer, soil moisture before sowing, yield, water use efficiency