A high and stable apple yield is critical for rainfed hilly apple orchards; however, many factors threaten apple yield and sustainable apple production, including water shortage, soil erosion, and chemical fertilizer overuse. Therefore, we undertook a field trial with three treatments— (1) organic and inorganic fertilizer combining a water-saving technique (OIWS), (2) inorganic fertilizer combining a water-saving technique (IWS), and (3) inorganic fertilizer alone (CK)—to determine how to alleviate these yield-limiting factors and improve soil fertility. Averaged across five years (2016–2020), the OIWS treatment increased apple yield the most, by 24.87% and 67.34% relative to IWS and CK, respectively. The OIWS treatment also had the highest apple yield stability, despite no significant differences between treatments, indicating OIWS treatment could produce higher apple yield year by year relative to IWS and CK. In comparison to IWS and CK, OIWS treatment showed greater 0–1 m by 12.21% and 26.08% and 0–3 m soil water storage (SWS) by 14.81% and 19.12%, as well as the highest abundance of 0–1 m soil microaggregates (0.053–0.2 mm) and macroaggregates (0.2–2 mm). Moreover, relative to IWS and CK averaged across the five years and 0–2 m soil layers, OIWS treatment substantially enhanced soil organic carbon (SOC) by 4.23 and 3.93 g kg⁻¹ and total nitrogen (TN) by 0.09 and 0.11 g kg⁻¹, respectively. Furthermore, Changes in apple production were positively linked with variations in 0–1 m SWS, soil microaggregate and macroaggregate abundance, and SOC and TN. And the most relevant factor to apple yield is 0–1 m SWS. Overall, on the Loess Plateau, OIWS system is a sustainable approach for increasing apple productivity and soil fertilities in rainfed hilly orchards.

高而稳定的苹果产量对于雨养丘陵苹果园至关重要；然而，许多因素威胁着苹果的产量和可持续的苹果生产，包括缺水、水土流失和化肥过度使用。因此，我们进行了三种处理的田间试验——(1) 有机和无机肥结合节水技术 (OIWS)，(2) 无机肥结合节水技术 (IWS)，以及 (3) 单独施无机肥(CK)——确定如何减轻这些产量限制因素并提高土壤肥力。平均五年（2016-2020 年），OIWS 处理使苹果产量增加最多，相对于 IWS 和 CK 分别增加 24.87% 和 67.34%。OIWS 处理也具有最高的苹果产量稳定性，尽管处理之间没有显着差异，表明相对于 IWS 和 CK，OIWS 处理可以产生逐年更高的苹果产量。与 IWS 和 CK 相比，OIWS 处理显示 0-1 m 土壤储水量 (SWS) 增加 12.21% 和 26.08%，0-3 m 土壤储水量 (SWS) 增加 14.81% 和 19.12%，以及 0-1 m 的最高丰度土壤微团聚体 (0.053–0.2 mm) 和大团聚体 (0.2–2 mm)。此外，相对于五年和 0-2 m 土层的 IWS 和 CK 平均值，OIWS 处理显着提高了土壤有机碳 (SOC) 4.23 和 3.93 g kg^-1和总氮 (TN) 分别增加 0.09 和 0.11 g kg ^-1。此外，苹果产量的变化与 0–1 m SWS、土壤微团聚体和大团聚体丰度以及 SOC 和 TN 的变化呈正相关。与苹果产量最相关的因素是 0–1 m SWS。总体而言，在黄土高原，OIWS 系统是提高雨养丘陵果园苹果生产力和土壤肥力的可持续方法。