Abstract:Apples are one of the main agricultural crops on China’s Loess Plateau. Producers want to maximum productivity; however extremely high levels of production can influence the orchard ecosystem and affect apple tree growth, yield quality and stability, and economic return. This is one of the most important problems in the orchard ecosystem. This field study compared the effect of five levels of productivity on soil moisture, apple quality, apple yield, and economic return from orchards in the Loess Plateau. Productivity in treatment (Ⅰ) (CK) was 3.6×105 ind?hm-2. Productivity in the other four treatments was limited to the following levels: treatment (Ⅱ) = 3.15×105 ind?hm-2, treatment (Ⅲ) = 2.7×105 ind?hm-2, treatment (Ⅳ) = 2.25×105 ind?hm-2, and treatment (Ⅴ) = 1.8×105 ind?hm-2. The results showed that the deep soil layer water use efficiency increased as productivity increased. However, deep soil layer water storage capacity decreased and desiccation of deep soil layers increased as productivity increased. The use of control methods to reduce productivity resulted in improvements in individual apple weight, firmness, and color. Based on external quality, the percentage of excellent fruit was 13%～24% higher in treatments with adjusted productivity levels compared to the unadjusted control treatment. In conclusion, these results indicated that controlling productivity increased sustainability, apple quality, economic return, and ecological benefit and reduced fluctuations in production. The optimum production level for mature orchards in the Gully Region of the Loess Plateau was 2.25×105 ind?hm-2.