Protective effects of orchard shelterbelt in Xinjiang

[Objective]Types of orchard shelterbelt's configuration and its protective effect were studied in Xinjiang to improve the quality of orchard shelterbelt and guarantee continuous benefits of farmers.[Method]Valid protection distance,structure,and protective effects of 3-21 H shelterbelt were investigated and sheltering effects of different tree age,width,configuration types and distance were observed in orchards.[Result]To a certain extent,younger trees,wider shelterbelt,and closer grid distance between two shelterbelts had better protective effect in orchard shelter forest.The closeness of fruit trees to the shelterbelt resulted in less damages.However,once exceeding the maximum protection distance,the branch number of fruit trees declined and widespread freezing injury happened.[Conclusion]In order to build a new type of orchard shelterbelt,decreasing freezing injury rate of fruit trees and accelerating economic development,the practices such as keeping reasonable maximum protection distance,maintaining optimal configuration type,restructuring shelterbelt,maintaining smaller area of grid,and plantations of forage grass such as clover should be promoted.