Abstract: A comparative study was carried out to estimate the effect of covering by different materials (chaff + chicken manure+rice straw,traditionally used,represented by F1;chaff+chicken manure+sorghum straw and bamboo liquor brewing residue+chicken manure+sorghum straw, newly tried,represented by F2 and F3,respectively) on bamboo shoot emergence,size, yield and economic benefit in a Moso bamboo forest.The control was free of any covering materials (F0). The results showed that 1) shoot emergence was promoted by three covering modes to different extent,exactly,F2 and F3 were superior to F1,about 20%,18% and 4.5% higher than control,respectively, in terms of the percentage of shoots sprouted before March 20^th;2) shoot heights at F2 and F3 surpassed that at F0 markedly,and slight effect was analyzed for F1,but all covering modes increased the basal diameter of shoots significantly; 3) the superiority of F1 was a higher shoot amount per stand area relative to the other two covering modes,the ultimate shoot yield of F1,F2 and F3was investigated to be 2.5,1.9 and 1.6 times that at F0,and economic benefit was evaluated to be 2.5, 2.2 and 1.8 times that at F0 respectively.Thus,it was recommended to cover Moso bamboo forests by any available agricultural or forestry residues nearby in mountain areas, beneficial to cost saving, income increase and recycling of resources simultaneously.