Ridge-furrow cultivation (RF) is a popular dryland agricultural technique in China, but its effects on maize yield, total water consumption during crop growing stage (ET), and water use efficiency (WUE) have not been systematically analyzed. Here we conducted a meta-analysis of the RF effects on maize yield, ET and WUE based on the data collected from peer-reviewed literature. Yield, ET and WUE varied with climate, soil and mulching management. Averaged across all the geographic locations, RF increased the yield and WUE of maize by 47% and 39%, respectively, but no effects on ET. An increase in the yield and WUE occurred under RF in regions regardless of the mean growing season air temperature (MT) or a mean precipitation during the growing season (MP), although there was a trend that RF is more beneficial under low MP. RF also decreased ET in regions with MT>12  C. RF increased the yield and WUE in regions

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Ridge–furrow cultivation (RF) is a popular emerging technique that can increase crop productivity in dry areas. However, the efficacy of RF on crop yield and soil organic carbon (SOC) remains uncertain under different climate and management conditions. Here, we compiled data from 48 publications to evaluate the response of yield and SOC to RF in China. Overall, our meta‐analysis showed that RF increased yield by 30.2%, but it had no effects on SOC. When differentiated based on different categories, yield and SOC varied by crop species, climate, soil textures, mulching management, and ridge–furrow patterns. RF increased the yield of wheat, maize, soybean, rape, linseed, potato, and SOC under soybean cultivation. Yield increase with RF was also consistent across temperature and precipitation. Yield increase was observed in all the soil textures. There were no RF effects on SOC under different soil textures. RF enhanced yields under no mulching, straw mulching and plastic film mulching, but increased SOC only in combination with straw mulching. A higher yield increase was observed under alternating small and large ridges (ASLR) than alternating ridges and furrows (AR). RF decreased SOC by 11.7% under AR, but had no effects on SOC under ASLR. Together, ASLR with straw mulching could increase yield and SOC in coarse soil texture regions with annual mean temperature >10°C and annual mean precipitation > 400 mm. This study showed the importance of considering local environmental conditions with management practices in identifying appropriate RF practices for improving crop productivity and soil carbon sequestration.