The regional water-conserving and yield-increasing characteristics and suitability of soil tillage practices in Northern China

•Effects of main tillage practices on crop yield, water consumption and water use efficiency of wheat and maize in Northern China were evaluated.•Subsoiling (SS) increased crop yield but consumed more water, and is suitable for winter wheat and summer maize in North-central China.•Mulching (M) significantly increased crop yield and conserved more soil water.•Ridge and Furrow Planting with Mulching (F–M) increased both wheat and maize yield, and was of more beneficial for maize than wheat.•M and F–M are suitable for spring maize in North-central China as well as wheat and maize in Northwest and Northeast China. Water deficiency seriously restricts the agricultural production in Northern China. Soil tillage practices can conserve water and increase yield effectively, but the regional applicability of soil tillage practices has not been systematically studied so far. It is significant to study the regional characteristics of tillage practices on water-conserving and yield-increasing so that the optimal practices for improving the crop water production and maintaining the agricultural sustainable development can be determined. This study applied the meta-analysis method to analyze results extracted from 156 peer-reviewed published papers conducted at 62 agricultural experimental sites for evaluating the effects of commonly used tillage practices, i.e., No-tillage (NT), Subsoiling (SS), Mulching (M), Ridge and Furrow Planting without Mulching (F), and Ridge and Furrow Planting with Mulching (F–M) on crop yield, water consumption and water use efficiency (WUE) of wheat and maize in Northern China. The results showed that NT only increased yield of winter wheat in North-central China and spring maize in Northeast China. SS increased wheat and maize yield by 16.3 ± 3.2 % and 9.2 ± 3.0 %, and increased water consumption by 8.4 ± 3.4 % and 1.8 ± 1.8 %, respectively. M increased the yield of wheat and maize by 14.9 ± 2.9 % and 17.7 ± 6.2 %, respectively, while it did not increase the water consumption. F increased the yield of wheat by 5.0 ± 1.1 %. F–M increased wheat and maize yield by 18.9 ± 6.3 % and 36.6 ± 11.8 %, respectively. This study recommends that, SS is suitable for winter wheat and summer maize in North-central China. M and F–M are suitable for spring maize in North-central China as well as wheat and maize in Northwest and Northeast China