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Effects of different cover crops on some soil quality parameters and yield of a kiwifruit orchard located in Samsun province of Turkey were investigated. For this purpose, Festuca rubra subsp. rubra (FRR). Trifolium repens (TR), Festuca arun-dinacea (FA), T. repens (40%) + F. rubra rubra (30%) + F. Arundinacea (30%) mixture (TFF), Vicia villosa (VV) and Trifolium meneghimamini (TM) were used as cover crops in a kiwifruit orchard with loamy soil. Experiment also included a plot mechanically cultivated (MC), herbicide treatment (HC) and bare control plot (BC). Soil samples were taken from two different depth (0-20 and 20-40 cm) and samples were subjected to analyses for some soil quality parameters. It was observed that cover crop treatments improved soil quality attributes. TR treatment compared with the other treatments showed the highest increases in OM of 83.73%, SSI of 9.38%, F of 14.60% and the largest decrease in BD of 13.04%. Cover crop treatments increased organic matter contents in the following order; HC (1.50%) < BC (1.59%) < MC (1.72%) < TM (2.29%) < FRR (2.34%) < FA (2.37%) < TFF (2.43%) < VV (2.83%) < TR (2.94%). While the highest mean kiwifruit yield (130.71 kg/ha) were found in the TM, the lowest mean kiwifruit yield (36.20 kg/ha) were obtained with in the MC. It was concluded based on current findings that cover crops may be incorporated into cropping systems to improve soil quality parameters and may have significant contributions to sustainable soil management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]