The UV photorefractive properties of near-stoichiometric LiNbO3 single crystal are found to be significantly enhanced com-pared with the congruent one at 325 nm. The temperature dependence of the band edge of near-stoichiometric LiNbO3 crystal is investigated. Significant thermal-induced spectral shift in band gap which obeys the Bose-Einstein expression is observed, and the fundamental band gap at zero absolute temperature is found to be much larger than the congruent one. New absorp-tion bands near the UV band edge which are much stronger in the near-stoichiometric LiNbO3 than those in the congruent LiNbO3 crystal show up at temperatures lower than ~400 K. Note that the UV photorefractivity is enhanced in SLN, which has exactly the same tendency as the absorption strength.