Cereal and legume intercropping could improve cereal yield, but the role of intercropping in grain quality still lacks a full understanding. A two-year bi-factorial trial was conducted to investigate the role of two planting patterns (mono-cropped wheat (MW) and intercropped wheat+faba bean (IW)) and four nitrogen (N) fertilization levels (N0, no N fertilizer applied to both wheat and faba bean; N1, 90 and 45 kg N ha^–1 applied to wheat and faba bean; N2, 180 and 90 kg N ha^–1 applied to wheat and faba bean; N3, 270 and 135 kg N ha^–1 applied to wheat and faba bean), as well as their interaction on the productivity of wheat grain yield (GY) and quality. The results showed that intercropping increased both the yields of wheat grain protein and amino acids (AAs) relative to MW in both years. No difference in Aas content between IW and MW was found but the 9% grain protein content (GPC) of IW was higher than that of MW in 2020. By contrast, wheat gliadin content was increased by 8–14% when wheat was intercropped with faba bean in both years, and some AAs fractions including essential and non-essential AAs were increased under N0 and N1 levels but declined at the N3 level. This means that intercropping increased the grain quality either for protein and AAs content or for fractions. There was no negative relationship between GPC and GY in the present study, and intercropping tended to increase GPC with increasing GY. In conclusion, wheat and faba bean mainly affected GPC and fractions rather than AAs, and intercropping presented a potential to improve both wheat quality and yield concurrently. Modulated N rates benefitted the stimulation of intercropping advantages in terms of grain yield and quality in the southwest of China and similar regions.

Agricultural microplastics threaten soil health, yet rhizosphere microecological responses to microplastic stress in intercropping systems remain unclear. We conducted a pot experiment using two cropping systems (maize monocropping and maize–soybean intercropping) and four polyethylene microplastic (PE-MP) levels (0%, 0.1%, 0.5%, 1.0%) to investigate rhizosphere physicochemical properties and enzyme activities. Results showed a significant interaction between PE-MPs and cropping systems (p < 0.05). In MM, 0.1% PE-MPs exacerbated soil acidification (pH −4.32%) and ionic fluctuations (electrical conductivity +11.12%). At ≥0.5%, PE-MPs significantly decreased total nitrogen (TN) and total phosphorus, induced abnormal available phosphorus accumulation (up to +98.4%), and dose-dependently inhibited β-glucosidase, urease, and catalase activities. Conversely, the IM system exhibited buffering capacity, maintaining pH, electrical conductivity, and TN stability, mitigating nutrient imbalances, and preserving key enzyme functions. PLS-SEM revealed enzyme-specific associations, suggesting that cropping systems and PE-MPs drive enzyme activities primarily by regulating TN and dissolved organic carbon (DOC). Conclusively, maize–soybean intercropping can buffer microplastic-induced physicochemical degradations, indicating its potential as an agronomic measure to mitigate microplastic pollution, though field-scale validations remain necessary.