Abstract: The daily evapotranspiration of dominant plants and soil moisture around their roots under different conditions of grazing intensity in desert steppe were studied. The results show that soil moisture around roots of Stipa breviflora increased with the increase of grazing intensity; soil moisture in the surface soil around roots of Artemisia frigida and Cleistogenes songorica did not change obviously with the increase of grazing intensity. Under the same condition of grazing intensity, the daily evapotranspiration of S. breviflora was relatively larger, while the daily evapotranspiration of A. frigida was relatively smaller. The daily evapotranspiration of vegetation had highly positive correlation with soil moisture.