A field experiment was conducted in a manural loesial soil in middle of Shaanxi Province ofChina, a sub-humid area prone to drought, to study the effects of rainwater-harvestingcultivation on water use efficiency (WUE) and yield of winter wheat. Ridge-furrow tillage wasused, the ridge being mulched by plastic sheets for rainwater harvesting while seeding in thefurrows. Results showed that from sowing to reviving stage of winter wheat, water stored in 0-100 cm layer was significantly decreased whereas that in 100-200 cm layer did not change.Compared to the non-mulching, plastic mulch retained 6.5 mm more water as an average of the twoN rate treatments, having a certain effect on conservation of soil moisture. In contrast, atharvest, water was remarkably reduced in both the 0-100 cm and the 100-200 cm layers, andmulched plots consumed 34.8 mm more water as an average of the two treatments: low N rate (75kg N ha-1) with low plant density (2 300 000 plants ha-1) and high N rate (225 kg N ha-1)with highplant density (2 800 000 plants ha-1), in 0-200 cm layer than those without mulching, the formerbeing beneficial to plants in utilization of deep layer water. Mulching was significant inharvesting water and in increase of yield. Mulched with plastic sheets, biological and grainyields were 22.5 and 22.6% higher for the average of the high N rate than for the low N rate,and the high N rate with low plant density was 29.8 and 29.1% higher in both biological andgrain yields than that of the low N rate with low plant density. With high N rate and high plantdensity, the mulched biological and grain yields were 39.5 and 28.9% higher than the correspondingtreatments without mulching. Of the treatments, that with high N rate and low plant density wasthe highest in both biological and grain yields, and the water use efficiency reached 43.7 kgmm-1 ha-1 for biological yield and 22 kg mm-1 ha-1 for grain yield, being the highest WUE reportedin the world up to now. A field experiment was conducted in a manural loesial soil in middle of Shaanxi Province of China, a sub-humid area prone to drought, to study the effects of rainwater-harvestingcultivation on water use efficiency (WUE) and yield of winter wheat. Ridge-furrow tillage wasused, the ridge being mulched by plastic sheets for rainwater harvesting while seeding in thefurrows. Results showed that from sowing to reviving stage of winter wheat, water stored in 0-100 cm layer was significantly decreased that in 100-200 cm layer did not change. Compared to the non-mulching, plastic mulch retained 6.5 mm more water as an average of the twoN rate treatments, having a certain effect on conservation of soil moisture. In contrast, atharvest, water was remarkably reduced in both the 0- 100 cm and the 100-200 cm layers, andmulched plots consumed 34.8 mm more water as an average of the two treatments: low N rate (75 kg N ha-1) with low plant density (2 300 000 plants ha-1) and high N rate (225 kg N h a-1) with high plant density (2 800 000 plants ha-1), in 0-200 cm layer than those without mulching, the former beneficial to plants in utilization of deep layer water. Mulching was significant inharvesting water and in increase of yield . Mulched with plastic sheets, biological and grainyields were 22.5 and 22.6% higher for the average of the high N rate than for the low N rate, and the high N rate with low plant density was 29.8 and 29.1% higher in both biological and grain yields than that of the low N rate with low plant density. With high N rate and high plant density, the mulched biological and grain yields were 39.5 and 28.9% higher than the correspondingreatments without mulching. Of the treatments, that with high N rate and low plant density wasthe highest in both biological and grain yields, and the water use efficiency reached 43.7 kgmm-1 ha-1 for biological yield and 22 kg mm-1 ha-1 for grain yield, being the highest WUE reported in the world up to now.