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Water shortage is a main limitation of crop growth and yield in drought northwest China, which is an important area of seed maize growth. Plastic film mulch is widely adopted to reduce soil evaporation (<i>E</i>) and conserve water resources, which changes evapotranspiration (<i>ET</i>) and its components, <i>E</i> and transpiration (<i>Tr</i>) and crop growth. The AquaCrop model, one of widely used crop models powered by water, can well simulate crop <i>ET</i> components and growth. However, there are few studies that examine <i>ET</i> partitioning and growth with and without plastic film mulch. The calibrated AquaCrop model was used to partition <i>ET</i> and simulate growth of seed maize with and without plastic film mulch in a drought region of northwest China in 2014 and 2015. The AquaCrop model can well simulate canopy cover curve (<i>CC</i>), and the dynamic and accumulated courses of <i>ET</i> and <i>ET</i> components. Plastic film mulch could advance the growth stage of seed maize and reduce seasoned <i>ET</i>. The initial stage with plastic film mulch was 37&#8722;42 days, while it was 46&#8722;48 days for no-mulch. Plastic film mulch increased <i>Tr</i> by 14.16% and 14.48% and significantly decreased <i>E</i> by 57.25% and 34.28% in 2014 and 2015, respectively, resulting in the reduction of seasonal total <i>ET</i>. Plastic film mulch increased averaged mid-season crop coefficient for transpiration (<i>Kc _Tr</i>) by 0.88% and decreased soil evaporation coefficient (<i>Ke</i>) by 62.50%. Collectively, the results suggest that, in comparison with no-mulch, plastic film mulch advanced crop growth, and decreased total <i>ET</i> and increased <i>Tr</i> related with crop production, i.e., improve water use effectiveness.