Soil quality, characterized by its physical, chemical, and biological properties, is closely linked to soil management. Reducing soil disturbance can limit soil degradation; however, tillage is still considered essential, particularly on poorly drained soils. This study aimed to identify the optimal tillage practices for winter wheat crops following long-term no tillage practice and crop rotation (2020–2023). Additionally, it highlights the considerable advantages of particular tillage practices in emphasizing their role in enhancing soil health and sustainable agriculture. The experiment followed a randomized complete block design with three replications and two tillage practices: no tillage (NT) and conventional tillage (CT). The research was carried out on a cambic chernozem soil type. The results revealed that physical properties such as bulk density (BD) can increase or decrease under NT, while soil water content (SWC) increased under the same system. The status of water-stable aggregates (WSAs) also improved in NT (88.41%) due to the incorporation of cover crop or plant residues in the 0–10 cm depth. Notably, the highest SWC value at harvest was obtained in the 0–10 cm soil depth, under NT, reaching 24.47%. Grain yields over four years of research were also influenced by tillage systems, resulting in mean yields of 6070 kg/ha for CT and 4285.25 kg/ha for the NT system. The Pearson correlation coefficient was calculated for the soil physical properties considered in pairs. Between BD and water-stable aggregates (WSAs), there was a moderate positive correlation (r = 0.458**) and statistical significance, but no linear correlation between BD and SWC (r = 0.089), and between WSAs and SWC (r = 0.026). Generally, using NT, which reduces soil disturbance and maintains residues on the surface, could contribute to land sustainability and climate mitigation in north-east Romania.

Excessive tillage and chemical fertilization are the primary attributes of conventional farming and the main causes of soil degradation. This research focused on the comparative study of two tillage systems: conventional (CT) and no-tillage (NT), as well as on the effect of chemical fertilizers and different Bacillus megaterium var. phosphaticum inoculum rates (75, 100 and 125%) on soil properties. This short-term experiment was conducted under field conditions in Northeastern Romania from 2023 to 2024. Soil dehydrogenase, catalase, acid, and alkaline phosphatase activities, pH, organic carbon content (SOC), total nitrogen (TN), total phosphorus, and available phosphorus (TP and AP) were determined. Bacillus treatments generally inhibited soil enzyme activity by 0.35 to 57%, depending on the enzyme type. Under NT, activity increased by up to 59% for dehydrogenase, 43% for acid phosphatase, and 70% for alkaline phosphatase compared to the CT system. An opposite trend was found for catalase, along with a negative correlation with the other enzymes. There were positive differences in TP concentration at 125% Ecofertil + N in both CT (0.0577 ppm) and NT (0.0578 ppm) in 2023 compared to the control (0.0346–0.0374 ppm). In the same year, after the first inoculation, AP increased significantly with bacterial treatments in CT, from 32.34% (T0) to 47.94% (T4), and at crop harvest in NT in 2024, from 34.18% (T0) to 91.06% (T3). The results suggest that enzymatic activities and soil chemical properties were more influenced by soil management than the interaction between inoculated bacteria and chemical fertilizers.

Heavy metal–pesticide co-contamination is increasingly relevant to food safety because interactions between contaminants can modify their mobility, persistence, bioavailability, and transfer from agricultural soils to edible crops. This systematic review synthesized evidence on the occurrence, environmental behavior, mechanistic interactions, crop uptake, food-chain transfer, and mitigation of metal–pesticide mixtures in agroecosystems under climate-related stress. The evidence synthesized in this review indicates that metal–pesticide co-contamination arises from overlapping agricultural, industrial, and atmospheric inputs. Across the included studies, metal–pesticide co-exposure was associated with synergistic, additive, or antagonistic responses, depending on contaminant identity, concentration, soil properties, and exposure conditions. Co-exposure was associated with altered contaminant mobility, uptake, and accumulation in edible tissues, with implications for dietary exposure and food-chain transfer. The reviewed evidence further indicates that variations in temperature, hydrological conditions, and soil redox dynamics influence contaminant persistence, mobility, transformation, and bioavailability, although these effects remain strongly context-dependent. Biochar, phytoremediation, plant–microbe consortia, and nano-enabled materials show potential to reduce contaminant mobility and crop uptake. Integrated, climate-adaptive monitoring and remediation strategies are needed to better protect soil health, food safety, and the human food chain, while accounting for substantial methodological heterogeneity across available studies.