Abstract: The crop roots could fix soil and reduce soil and water loss from arable upland. In this study, maize (Zea may), as a main cultivated crop in Yunnan province, was used to investigate the soil fixing capability by roots in 10 cm soil depth with different planting pattern, using anchor-shank tensiometer and self-designed shearing box. The results showed that: when a 1.5 KN load was applied, the displacement was 3.15, 5.9, 7.26 mm for intercropped maize roots, monocultured maize roots and bare soil, respectively. The displacement of monocultured maize roots was bigger than that of intercropped maize roots; this suggested that the intercropped maize was superior to monocultured maize in term of soil fixing capability.