Agricultural management could reduce soil N2O emissions while increasing grain yields via enhancing soil moisture harvesting and improving soil nutrient status.

• NTSMFI enhanced soil moisture harvesting and boosted crop yields. • NTSMFI reduced soil N 2 O emissions and increased soil N 2 O emission efficiency. • NTSMFI reduced SNE because of enhanced soil moisture harvesting and improved soil nutrient status. • NTSMFI treatment is a promising environmental cleaner production strategy in irrigated areas. Intercropping can improve system productivity, but the effect of intercropping integrated with conservation tillage practices on soil N 2 O emissions remains unclear at the present stage. A 4-yr field experiment was performed in northwest China to examine soil moisture harvesting, soil nutrient status, and soil N 2 O emissions of wheat-maize intercropping with stubble residues and films management. We found that intercropping increased crop yields and reduced soil N 2 O emissions over monocultures. Across the intercropping treatments, NTSMFI (no-tillage with mulching stubbles and re-using residual films) and NTSSFI (no-tillage with standing stubbles and re-using residual films) boosted grain-yields by 13.8–17.1 % and 12.9–15.4 % over CTFI (conventional tillage without returning stubbles and mulching new films). NTSMFI and NTSSFI reduced soil N 2 O emissions by 18.4–28.7 % and 15.5–24.9 % compared to CTFI, respectively. So, NTSMFI and NTSSFI obtained a higher soil N 2 O emission efficiency than CTFI. The greater effect on soil N 2 O emissions reduction was detected in NTSMFI, and decreased by 5.1–5.4 % over NTSSFI. The main reason for NTSMFI to improve grain-yields and reduce soil N 2 O emissions was to enhance soil moisture harvesting and optimize the soil nutrient status. Compared to CTFI, NTSMFI increased the ratio of transpiration to evaporation by 14.4–32.0 %, improved soil organic carbon and total nitrogen concentrations, and soil C:N ratio of 0 to 60 cm soil depth by 14.1 %, 7.1 %, and 6.5 %, respectively. Adopting an environmentally clean strategy exemplified by NTSMFI was recommended as an effective technique for increasing-yields and reducing soil N 2 O emissions in arid irrigated regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]