The phenomena that precipitation events cause a large amount of CO₂ release from the surface soil in a short time is also known as the Birch Effect. The respiration rate of soil microbes can increase rapidly within a few minutes of precipitation. The significant effects on soil carbon emission may affect the soil carbon cycle process of the terrestrial ecosystems, especially in arid and semi-arid regions. In order to explore the effects of precipitation pulse on grassland soils, we conducted a simulated precipitation to test soil microbial respiration rate R_S in three typical grassland types (meadow grassland, typical grassland, and desert grassland) in Inner Mongolia, China, by using a self-developed high-intensity measurement system (288 measurements within 48 h). The results showed that, in all three grassland soils, the pulse in the microbial respiration per gram of soil organic carbon (SOC,R_SOC) peaked within 10 min of the simulated precipitation. The maximum R_SOC (R_SOC-max) was significantly high in desert grassland (1.59 mg C g^-1 h^-1), followed by meadow grassland (0.73 mg C g^-1 h^-1) and typical grassland (0.50 mg C g^-1 h^-1). Furthermore, the accumulative microbial respiration per gram of soil (A_RSoil was similar to the microbial respiration per gram of soil (R_Soil). Both were the highest in typical grassland, followed by meadow grassland and desert grassland. If it was standardized by SOC, the accumulative microbial respiration per gram of SOC (A_RSOC was the highest in desert grassland (9.74 mg C g^-1), then meadow grassland (6.54 mg C g^-1), and the lowest in typical grassland (3.54 mg C g^-1).This indicates that the soil respiration response to pulse precipitation is closely related to the degree of drought. Our findings demonstrated the importance of precipitation pulse on soil carbon cycles. Therefore, future studies should consider the effects of soil substrate and initial soil water content.