[Objective] The aim of this study is to investigate the soil water characteristic curve and its influence factors under different vegetation cover in karst area in order to provide the theoretical basis for the quantitative analysis of soil water movement in karst mountain area.[Methods] Based on field survey and laboratory analysis

this paper studied the soil water characteristic curve of four different vegetation type(wasteland

grassland

bushwood and forest-shrub) in typical karst mountains in Guohua

Pinguo

Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.[Results] All the three models including van Genuchten

Brooks-Corey and Gardner fitted the data well

with correlation coefficients were >0.93 and the sum of squared residuals were <0.0005. Among the three models

van Genuchten model was the best fitted model for calculating the soil water characteristic curve. The soil water-holding capacity showed a significant negative relationship with the positive succession of vegetation

saturated water content

non-capillary porosity and particle content

while it showed an extremely significant positive relationship with soil bulk density

clay content

capillary porosity

initial water content and capillary moisture. Under different vegetation types and the same suction

the soil water-holding ability was great at the surface and deep layer soil but poor in the middle layer soil. Under different soil depth and the same suction

the soil water-holding ability in wasteland was the greatest

while it was the poorest in forest-shrub.[Conclusion] Under different soil depth and the same suction

the soil water-holding ability decreases with the positive succession of the vegetation. The dominant factor that influences the soil water characteristic curve in the study area is soil capillary porosity.