| By presetting threshold of soil matric potential(-5 kPa,S1;-10 kPa,S2;-15 kPa,S3;-20 kPa,S4;-25 kPa,S5) to control the timing of the irrigation cycle with vacuum tensiometers buried at 0.2 m depth immediately under drip emitter,field experiments were carried out to investigate the effect of soil matric potential on waxy corn growth,yield and irrigation water use efficiency under mulch drip irrigation in saline soils of arid areas in 2005 and 2006.The results showed that the plant height,stem circumference,LAI,above-ground dry biomass,Chlorophyll content of waxy corn all increased with the increasing of soil matric potential,the higher the soil matric potential was,the higher the ear yields and the better the ear characteristics were;the highest ear yields were achieved with the soil matric potential of-5 kPa and the irrigation water use efficiency with the soil matric potential from-10 kPa to-15 kPa were higher than that of the other treatments. |