Plastic film mulching under drip irrigation is a key cotton cultivation technology that can save water and increase yield in arid regions. However, the long-term promotion of film mulching has resulted in increasingly serious problems related to residual film pollution. We hypothesized that deep drip irrigation and optimized irrigation can ensure the sustainability of yield of non-film cotton; thus, film is not necessary under this planting system. To address the above issues, we investigated the effects of different irrigation volumes (in m³ ha⁻¹: W₁, 2649; W₂, 2925; W₃, 3201; W₄, 3477; W₅, 3753) on the soil water and salt distribution, agronomic attributes, biomass accumulation, yield composition and water use efficiency (WUE) of non-film cotton grown under deep drip irrigation in a two-year field trial. We also explored possible ways to exploit the full potential of decreasing water consumption and enhancing cotton production. The results showed that the seed cotton yield of W₃ was 7.5%, 7.1% and 3.2% higher than those of W₁, W₂ and W₅, respectively, while it was 5.2% lower than that of W₄ across the two-year study. Moreover, there was no significant difference in seed yield or WUE between the W₃ and W₄ treatments. Compared with the W₂ treatment, the W₃ treatment delayed the total growth period by only 0–2 d, the conductivity in the 0–10 cm soil layer was increased by 9.3–22.9%, and the soil water content in the 0–20 cm soil layer was increased by 1.7–4.0%. The cotton plant biomass and reproductive organ biomass increased with the amount of irrigation and followed this order W₅ > W₄, W₃, W₂ > W₁. Seed cotton yield was significantly correlated with effective bolls, while WUE was negatively correlated with vegetative organ biomass at the flowering and boll setting stages. Overall, the results suggested that under the non-film conditions, an irrigation amount of 3201 m³ ha⁻¹ would improve the eco-friendliness and efficiency of cotton production systems in arid regions.

滴灌地膜覆盖是干旱地区棉花节水增产的关键栽培技术。然而，长期推广地膜覆盖导致残膜污染问题日益严重。我们假设深度滴灌和优化灌溉可以保证无膜棉产量的可持续性；因此，在这种种植系统下不需要薄膜。为了解决上述问题，我们调查了不同灌溉量（m ³ ha ^-1 : W ₁ , 2649; W ₂ , 2925; W ₃ , 3201; W ₄ , 3477; W ₅ , 3753）对土壤的影响水在为期两年的田间试验中，深滴灌下种植的非膜棉的盐分分布、农艺属性、生物量积累、产量组成和水分利用效率（WUE）。我们还探索了可能的方法来充分发挥减少用水量和提高棉花产量的潜力。_{结果表明，W 3}籽棉产量分别比W ₁、W ₂和W _{5高7.5%、 7.1} %和3.2% ，而在两个年学习。_{此外，W 3}和 W ₄处理之间的种子产量或 WUE 没有显着差异与 W _2相比处理后，W ₃处理仅延迟总生长期0~2 d，0~10 cm土层电导率提高9.3~22.9%，0~20 cm土层土壤含水量增加。增加了 1.7–4.0%。棉花植株生物量和生殖器官生物量随着灌水量的增加而增加，依次为W ₅ > W ₄、W ₃、W ₂ > W ₁ 。籽棉产量与有效铃显着相关，而WUE与开花和结铃期的营养器官生物量呈负相关。总体而言，结果表明，在非薄膜条件下，灌溉量为 3201 m ³ha ^-1将提高干旱地区棉花生产系统的生态友好性和效率。