Intercropping, a widely adopted agricultural practice worldwide, aims to increase crop yield, enhance plant nutrient uptake, and optimize the utilization of natural resources, contributing to sustainable farming practices on a global scale. However, the underlying changes in soil physio-chemical characteristics and enzymatic activities, which contribute to crop yield and nutrient uptake in the intercropping systems are largely unknown. Consequently, a two-year (2021-2022) field experiment was conducted on the maize/soybean intercropping practices with/without nitrogen (N) fertilization (i.e., N; 0 N kg ha and N; 225 N kg ha for maize and 100 N kg ha for soybean ) to know whether such cropping system can improve the nutrients uptake and crop yields, soil physio-chemical characteristics, and soil enzymes, which ultimately results in enhanced crop yield. The results revealed that maize intercropping treatments (i.e., NMI and NMI) had higher crop yield, biomass dry matter, and 1000-grain weight of maize than mono-cropping treatments (i.e., NMM, and NMM). Nonetheless, these parameters were optimized in NMI treatments in both years. For instance, NMI produced the maximum grain yield (10,105 and 11,705 kg ha), biomass dry matter (13,893 and 14,093 kg ha), and 1000-grain weight (420 and 449 g) of maize in the year 2021 and 2022, respectively. Conversely, soybean intercropping treatments (i.e., NSI and NSI) reduced such yield parameters for soybean. Also, the land equivalent ratio (LER) and land equivalent ratio for N fertilization (LER) values were always greater than 1, showing the intercropping system's benefits in terms of yield and improved resource usage. Moreover, maize intercropping treatments (i.e., NMI and NMI) and soybean intercropping treatments (i.e., NSI and NSI) significantly (p < 0.05) enhanced the nutrient uptake (i.e., N, P, K, Ca, Fe, and Zn) of maize and soybean, however, these nutrients uptakes were more prominent in NMI and NSI treatments of maize and soybean, respectively in both years (2021 and 2022) compared with their mono-cropping treatments. Similarly, maize-soybean intercropping treatments (i.e., NMSI and NMSI) significantly (p < 0.05) improved the soil-based N, P, K, NH, NO, and soil organic matter, but, reduced the soil pH. Such maize-soybean intercropping treatments also improved the soil enzymatic activities such as protease (PT), sucrose (SC), acid phosphatase (AP), urease (UE), and catalase (CT) activities. This indicates that maize-soybean intercropping could potentially contribute to higher and better crop yield, enhanced plant nutrient uptake, improved soil nutrient pool, physio-chemical characteristics, and related soil enzymatic activities. Thus, preferring intercropping to mono-cropping could be a preferable choice for ecologically viable agricultural development.© 2024. The Author(s).

为探明玉米花生带状间作模式下植株氮吸收利用和土壤微生物群落特征，设置玉米单作（SM）、花生单作（SP）和玉米花生间作（IMP）三种种植模式，系统分析了不同种植模式下氮素吸收利用规律，并采用16S/ITS测序技术明确玉米花生带状间作系统下根际土壤细菌/真菌群落结构变化。结果表明，间作玉米边行优势明显，地下和地上部干物质积累量和氮积累量显著高于单作玉米和间作玉米中间行。间作玉米和间作交互区根际土壤细菌和真菌多样性和丰富度降低，而间作花生根际真菌多样性和丰富度增加，其中变形菌门、担子菌门、子囊菌门等有益菌最为显著富集。土壤中细菌和真菌存在复杂的相关性，变形菌门与子囊菌门正相关。间作丰富了物种功能多样性，参与氨基酸运输、代谢和碳水化合物代谢的细菌和腐生营养型真菌的显著富集，改善了植物养分吸收，促进了植株生长发育。可见，玉米花生间作可通过优化土壤微生物的群落结构，促进植株对氮素的吸收和利用，本研究为玉米花生带状间作氮营养互促吸收提供了科学依据。

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Intercropping, a diversified planting pattern, increases land use efficiency and farmland ecological diversity. We explored the changes in soil physicochemical properties, nutrient uptake and utilization, and microbial community composition in wide-strip intercropping of maize and peanut.The results from three treatments, sole maize, sole peanut and intercropping of maize and peanut, showed that intercropped maize had a marginal advantage and that the nutrient content of roots, stems and grains in side-row maize was better than that in the middle row of intercropped maize and sole maize. The yield of intercropped maize was higher than that of sole cropping. The interaction between crops significantly increased soil peroxidase activity, and significantly decreased protease and dehydrogenase activities in intercropped maize and intercropped peanut. The diversity and richness of bacteria and fungi decreased in intercropped maize rhizosphere soil, whereas the richness of fungi increased intercropped peanut. RB41, Candidatus-udaeobacter, Stropharia, Fusarium and Penicillium were positively correlated with soil peroxidase activity, and negatively correlated with soil protease and dehydrogenase activities. In addition, intercropping enriched the functional diversity of the bacterial community and reduced pathogenic fungi.Intercropping changed the composition and diversity of the bacterial and fungal communities in rhizosphere soil, enriched beneficial microbes, increased the nitrogen content of intercropped maize and provided a scientific basis for promoting intercropping in northeastern China.© 2022. The Author(s).