No-tillage and subsoiling can improve soil aggregate structure and realize a synergistic effect of soil carbon and nitrogen retention compared with deep tillage. This study aimed to investigate the effects of different tillage methods on the microbiome and metabolites in wheat rhizosphere. Results indicated that no significant differences in the diversity of soil bacterial and fungal communities were observed among the tillage methods. Analysis revealed that no-tillage enriched specific genera such as Cryptosporangium, Crossiella, Rhodothermaceae, Leptothrix, Stilbella, Diutina, and Pyrenochaetopsis, while subsoiling was associated with Rubrobacter, Latescibacteraceae, Nitrospira, Rokubacteriales, and Ctenomyces. Deep tillage, on the other hand, showed significant associations with Nocardia, Aeromicrobium, Sphingopyxis, Cordyceps, and Subulicystidium. Metabolomic analysis identified differential metabolites involved in various pathways, including the biosynthesis of plant secondary metabolites, ABC transporters, and starch and sucrose metabolism. Correlation analysis revealed a significant interaction between microorganisms and metabolites in wheat rhizosphere. Bacteria at the genus level exhibited greater associations with differential metabolites. In conclusion, different tillage practices can alter the composition of microbial communities and metabolites in wheat rhizosphere, and their interactions may affect soil fertility and wheat growth.

The impact of wide ridge-furrow planting on maize production are mostly unexplored. The field experiment was conducted to study the effect of four ridge width on growth and water use efficiency (WUE) of maize (Xianyu 335) with same furrow spacing and basin planting with same spacing as conventional planting (CP). Compared with the CP, ridge-furrow (RF) increased plant height but reduced stem diameter and dry matter weight. The wide ridge under RF was beneficial to the high leaf area and dry matter accumulation. However, the least plant spacing generated stress on stem growth with a wider ridge (RF₁₈₀). The maximum grain yield (6573 kg ha⁻¹) and WUE (23.0 kg mm⁻¹ ha⁻¹) were obtained under RF₁₂₀, which were increased by 15.9% and 33.9% compared with CP. Irrigation efficiency and irrigation water use efficiency (IWUE) under RF system was improved 1.20–1.43 times and 1.89–2.45 times compared with CP, which was mainly due to the lower volume of irrigation water (decreased by 34.5–42.9%) under the RF system. Our results highlight that the RF method can be used as a water-saving method with ridge width up to 120 cm that lead to high yields of maize.