Abstract: Abstract: Oil sunflower is one of the most important oil crops. Because of its high yield and better oil quality, it is predominately planted in Mingqin County as a major oil crop. However, the shortage of irrigation water in the area is not favorable for the traditional oil sunflower farming system, in which large amount of water is required to support the growth of the plant. This study was conducted to investigate the efficient water and heat utilization, appropriate irrigation system for the oil sunflower with the drip irrigation under plastic film system. The traditional irrigation set as control and four treatments of drip irrigation under plastic film were deployed for the treatments, while soil moisture was monitored with the TRM-ZS3 system, and the other crop physiological as well ecological parameters were determined for the calculation of the soil water-heat dynamic, yield index, water utilization efficiency, water consumption pattern, and economic impacts. The experiments were carried out for continuous 2 seasons through the April 2012 to September 2013 at the Mingqin irrigation experimental station of Gansu Water Science Research Institute. The advantages of different irrigation treatments were analyzed in combined with the weather data from the TRM-ZS3 system, in addition, the effects of different irrigation systems on the water-heat dynamic, crop yield, water utilization and consumption were analyzed. The data showed that the drip irrigation under plastic film had the better moisture maintaining effects when compared to the traditional irrigation method. Soil water and temperature did not show dramatic variation under the drip irrigation under plastic film, and was suitable for the growth of the oil sunflower. The data indicated that the 288 mm irrigated water with 8 times during the growth season was the most favorable irrigation combination for the oil sun flower in this study. Under such an irrigation pattern, both the single grain weight and hundred grain weights were highest among the samples from the other irrigation treatments; Compared to the irrigation pattern, the yield increased by 6.03%, water consumption was reduced by 32.7%, the irrigation water requirement reduced by 162 mm; The water utilization efficiency increased by 56.8%, water productivity reached to 8.0 yuan per cubic meter and net income increased by 8.9%. When compared to the traditional flooding irrigation method, the drip irrigation could reduce the water consumption intensity of the entire growth season for 1.0 mm per day, it could also significantly reduce the invalid evaporation loss as well as the growth season water consumption. The under-mulch drip irrigation could also improve the soil water-heat distribution, improve the crop yield, water utilization efficiency and economic impacts. Therefore, the drip irrigation under plastic film is a practical and valuable water conservation farming system for the oil sunflower in Hexi area.