Fig. 3

The vertical distribution of SWC in 0–15 m profile (a). AO represents the 23-year-old apple orchard, RC1, RC3, RC5 and RC10 represent the years of returning orchard to cropland for 1, 3, 5 and 10 years, respectively. The bule area represents the soil water recovery (SWR) in recovered croplands compared to orchard, the gray area represents the soil water deficit (SWD) in recovered croplands compared to CK. The soil water deficit (SWD), soil water recovery (SWR) and soil water infiltration depth of orchard and croplands with recovery years.