Olive orchards in semiarid areas are maintained under bare soil conditions, with significant effects on soil properties. This study examined the roles of orchard age (OA) and Cropping System (CS) based on Cover crop (CC) on Soil Organic Carbon (SOC), Bulk Density (BD), and other soil traits in a semi-arid region of Tunisia. Two olive orchards 50 and 15 years old respectively, subjected to tillage were investigated. The CS consisted of 3 contrasting CC treatments: faba bean (FB) CC, vetch-oat (VO) intercrop CC, and bare soil (NC) as a control. Samples were taken below the olive canopy (0-30 cm) layer. The experimental design was a split-plot with orchard age as a main plot. Non-correlated variables at |r| > 0.7 were selected, standardized, and included in a specific multivariate analysis namely canonical discriminant analysis (CDA) to capture the multivariate effect of treatments on the variability and the relationship among variables. A general linear mixed model checked the response variable differences by the treatments and interaction of each variable. A negative correlation was found between SOC and BD (r = -0.98). No significant effects of the CS were detected for individual soil variables and most variables, including soil texture, were not significantly affected by OA. Significant differences associated with OA were observed only for CaCO3, Ca, and assimilable P, which were higher in the older orchard and may reflect differences in long-term management history (e.g., fertilization and erosion processes) rather than OA alone. The CDA yielded one significant CDA axis explaining 80.9% of the total variability, showing that soil variability was more strongly associated with differences between orchards of contrasting age and management history than with short-term CC treatments. CC effects were weak, inconsistent, and not clearly detectable across all treatment combinations, as illustrated by the lack of separation between the young NC orchard and both old NC and FB orchards. Multivariate analysis revealed only slight and inconsistent patterns related to CC treatments, rather than robust shifts in soil properties. Lastly, the CDA unveiled similar behaviours of P, Mg, and Ca on one side, and SOC, EC, and pH on the other, suggesting associations with nutrient management history and general soil properties rather than clear CC effects In conclusion, SOC did not differ significantly between orchards despite long-term tillage, and short-term CC effects were limited. These findings indicate that observable improvements in soil quality may require longer-term implementation and/or more diverse CC mixtures under semi-arid conditions.