Abstract: The effect of mulching after winter irrigation on drought-resistance and maize yield increment is studied. The results show that through mulching especially mulching with wheat straw,the wa-ter evaporation from soil is reduced in winter and early spring, and higher water content is kept in soil. The drought is resisted effectively during growing period of crops, and the crop yield and WUE are increased.Through wheat straw mulching,the maize yield is raised by 15%in drought years,and the WUE is calculated as 25.5kg穐^-1? mm^-1.

Key words: archaea, membrane lipids, glycerol dialkyl glycerol tetraethers, crenarchaeol, TEX-86, pH.