Abstract: Let M be an n-dimensional complete noncompact Riemannian manifold. In this paper, we will give the elliptic gradient estimate for positive smooth solutions to the non-homogeneous heat equation(?_t-△)u(x, t) = A(x, t)when the metric evolves under the Ricci flow. As applications, we get Harnack inequalities to compare solutions at the same time. 

Key words: Non-homogeneous heat equation, Ricci flow, Bochner formula, elliptic type gradient estimate, Harnack inequality