Sand: 0.02-2 mm; Silt: 0.002-0.2 mm; Clay: <0.002 mm. K_sat: saturated hydraulic conductivity; θ_s: saturated water content;

List of figures

Figure 1. The study site: the location of the Yuanzegou catchment on the Loess Plateau (a), land use map (b), and a general view of the jujube plantations (c).

Figure 2. Daily and monthly precipitation distribution at the study site during the study period. The light orange shading indicates dry spells.

Figure 3. Fine root length density of jujube trees at the study site.

Figure 4. Temporal evolution of soil water storage (SWS) under different treatments at different depth intervals during the study period. The columns in the right panels show annual mean SWS for the different treatments. The single, double, and triple asterisks indicate significant differences at P <0.05,P <0.01, and P <0.001, respectively.

Figure 5. Depth density of water uptake (DWU) by jujube trees under various treatments during different years.

Figure 6. The proportion of soil water use (PWU) in the studied profile (0-280 cm) under various treatments during different years.

Figure 7. Time series for daily transpiration (T_d) under different treatments during the study period.

Figure 8. Seasonal and annual variation in transpiration under different treatments during the study period. The single, double, and triple asterisks indicate significant differences at P <0.05,P <0.01, and P <0.001, respectively.

Figure 9. The relationship between annual transpiration and corresponding mean soil water storage (SWS) in the shallow (0-100 cm) and deep (100-280 cm) layers.

Figure 10. Mid-day leaf water potential variation for different treatments in 2015 and 2016. The single, double, and triple asterisks indicate significant differences at P <0.05,P <0.01, and P <0.001, respectively.