Abstract: With the concerns of water conservation by forest, soils with same aged five forest types in mountainous regions of east Liaoning were selected to test their water-holding capacity. The storage of litter under these forests ranged from 10.87 to 18.67t·hm^-2, which was greater in coniferous than in broad-leaved forest. The amount of water-holding by litter was 37.11～ 57.65 t·hm^-2, and had a positive relationship with the storage of litter. The water storage of all forest soils within the depth of 50cm was 817.7～937.6t·hm^-2 . Natural Mongoilan oak forest soil had the best infiltration rate and the highest water conservation, followed by soils with broad-leaved mixed forest, Korean pine plantation, Changbai larch plantation and Chinese pine plantation. In general, natural broad-leaved forests had a higher water conservation than coniferous plantations.

Key words: Mountainous regions of east Liaoning Province, Water conservation forest, Water holding of litter, Water holding of soil, nutrient uptake, nutrient utilization, intercropping advantage, maize and potato intercropping