Abstract: Nitraria tangutorum is an important, dominant species in arid desert. Our objective was to explore the responses of N. tangutorum seedlings to various precipitation patterns. This approach will provide basic theoretical data to predict seedling survival in degraded N. tangutorum scrub vegetation, and accelerate desert region recovery. In this article, we report an experiment using simulated rainfall to examine the effect of precipitation (increased by 30%, reduced by 30%, unchanged) and precipitation interval (increased, unchanged) on N. tangutorum seedlings. Differences in root length, leaf biomass, above ground biomass, total biomass and root-shoot ratio under the various simulated precipitation regimes are reported. The total precipitation and precipitation interval both strongly affected N. tangutorum growth, but had no significant interaction. Plant crown, basal diameter and biomass were increased by extended precipitation interval, with the same total precipitation. As a result, the leaf biomass was increased by 81%, so that the above ground biomass accumulation was far greater than for below ground biomass, and the root-shoot ratio was decreased. With unchanged precipitation interval, reduced precipitation had no significant effect on stem and below ground biomass, but root length was increased by 86%; while leaf biomass, above ground biomass and total biomass were reduced by 67%, 48%, and 27%, respectively, and the root-shoot ratio was increased by 74%. The treatment in which precipitation was increased by 30% had no significant effect on biomass. Therefore, appropriate increase of precipitation and precipitation interval promote growth of N. tangutorum seedlings, and vegetation restoration where this shrub is present.