Abstract: Eco-cultivation plays an active role in controlling the non-point source pollution inorchards. Our understanding of controlling effects of different eco-cultivation patterns on soil erosion and nutrient loss in orchards is lacking, which restricts the formulation of non-point source pollution reduction measures. Here, a meta-analysis was carried out with 1541 research samples from 73 relevant studies. The results showed that compared with the ‘clean cultivation’ commonly used in traditional orchards, eco-cultivation reduced runoff in orchards by 59.5%, the loss of sediment by 86.9%, the loss of total nitrogen by 52.2%, and the loss of total phosphorus by 65.4%. Among the sod cultivation, intercropping, and mulching cultivation examined in this study, sod cultivation reduced soil erosion and nutrient loss more efficiently than that of intercropping and mulching. We further analyzed controlling factors in sod cultivation, and the results showed that artificial grass was significantly more efficient than the natural grass in reducing runoff and sediment loss, and that the whole-orchard grass was significantly more efficient than strip grass in reducing runoff and nutrient loss. Gramineae species were a better choice to decrease soil erosion and nutrient loss than other species. Moreover, the green manure return performed better than mulching in reducing orchard runoff, sediment loss and total nitrogen loss. Therefore, it is the best eco-cultivation measure for reducing non-point source pollution of orchard by artificial selection of gramineous plants for whole-orchard grass and returning to the field in an appropriate period.

Key words: orchard, eco-cultivation, soil and water loss, non-point source pollution, metaanalysis.