Field experiments were conducted to study effect of irrigation and water-fertilizer spatial coupling on corn N uptake and N residue in the solum (1.0m) after corn was harvested in the semi -arid region. The results show that in comparison with the conventional pattern of fertilization and irrigation (even fertilizer application and even irrigation at a rate of 2500m³/hm² during the entire growing period), at the irrigation rate of 1125m³/hm² and 600m³/hm², three different patterns of water-fertilizer spatial coupling, i.e. even fertilization and alternate irrigation, fertilization and alternate irrigation in the same field, and fertilization and alternate irrigation in different fields, slightly decreased N uptake by corn, but increased fertilizer N residue in the soil (0-60 cm in depth), thus reducing the possibility of N leaching down to the deeper layers; when the irrigation rates were kept the same, the three treatments were in a decreasing order of even fertilization and alternate irrigation > fertilization and alternate irrigation in the same field > fertilization and alternate irrigation in different fields.