Abstract: [Objective] This project aims to reveal the response of desert organic carbon storage and microbial biomass carbon and nitrogen to grazing exclusion times in order to provide scientific basis for restoration, management and utilization of degraded desert.[Method]The method of spatial sequence instead of the time series was used, and the soil organic carbon storage (SOC), microbial biomass carbon (MBC) and nitrogen (MBN) under different grazing exclusion times (1 a, 4 a and 11 a) in degraded desert of Seriphidium transiliense were studied.[Result]The results showed that: (1) The SOC in grazing exclusion area in 0-30 cm layer decreased by 13.3;-24.3; compared with the freely grazing area, but the SOC in 0-10 cm layer decreased at first and then increased with grazing exclusion times increased.(2) With the increase of grazing exclusion times, the MBC storage in 0-30 cm layer decreased at first and then increased, but the MBN storage was not significantly different for grazing exclusion (P>0.05), and the MBC could be used as an early indicator to measure the recovery of degraded desert.[Conclusion]Short-term grazing exclusion is not effective to recover the soil of S.transiliense desert but the long-term grazing exclusion can effectively improve soil quality.In a word, grazing exclusion was the most economical and convenient way to recover the degraded desert.