Abstract: Adopting appropriate tillage methods is key to enhancing ability of drought resistance and water retention in red soil sloping farmland．Focusing on red soil sloping farmland in Yunnan Province, small experimental plots were set with four different tillage methods of traditional tillage, plastic mulching, cross-slope ridge tillage and along-slope tillage, to explore characteristics of changes in soil water retention and infiltration parameters under different tillage methods．Results indicated that, plastic mulching reduced soil bulk density and increased soil porosity significantly, with higher soil moisture content of 5.35%～11.71% than other farming methods; both plastic mulching and cross-slope ridge tillage showed relatively large variations in soil infiltration parameters, with cross-slope ridge tillage improved by 20.24%～85.42% greater cumulative infiltration compared to other farming methods; plastic mulching demonstrated good soil water storage and moisture conservation, while cross-slope ridge tillage exhibited good soil water supply performance．In contrast, along-slope tillage performed poorly in terms of both water storage and moisture conservation．