Caragana are common shrubs that are extensively planted for the restoration of degraded desert steppes in northern China. However, these shrubs require regular stumping to encourage their regeneration. As a result, lots of branches are produced, and those branches may provide abundant resources for restoration of degraded desert steppe. Thus, this study utilized the stumped branches as mulch materials, establishing three treatments: no branch mulch (CK), mulch with short branches (S, branches 5-10 cm in length), and mulch with long branches (L, branches 70-130 cm in length) to investigate the impact of branch mulching on soil respiration in the desert steppe of Yanchi County, Ningxia. The findings indicated that, in comparison to CK, both branch mulch treatments significantly lowered soil temperature and raised soil water content, with treatment S enhancing soil water content by 0.05%-3.31%, and treatment L by 0.04%-1.89%. In addition, both covered treatments significantly accelerated the activities of cellulase, β-1,4-xylosidase, urease, β-1,4-N-acetoglucosidase and β-1,4-glucosidase, increased contents of soil organic carbon and available phosphorus, enhanced plant above-ground biomass, height, and coverage, and meanwhile promoted soil respiration. The soil cumulative respiration of treatments S and L was 56.0% and 29.0% higher than that of CK, respectively. The correlation analysis indicates that, the soil water, soil enzyme activity, soil nutrients, and plant growth influenced steppe respiration. Therefore, this study indicated that shrub branch covering promotes plant carbon input by improving soil water content, and then accelerates organic matter decomposition and nutrient input by promoting enzyme activity, and ultimately promotes soil respiration rate. To conclude, mulching with stumped shrub branches in desert steppe can enhance soil carbon cycling, which will be advantageous for the ecological rehabilitation of degraded steppes. This study provided a way for the utilization of stumped shrubs in grassland, and also provided a reference for the management of shrub encroached grasslands.