AimsRhizosphere soil carbon and nitrogen cycling are crucial to crop production and soil function in agroecosystems. However, the dynamics of these soil properties during critical crop growth stages under various tillage practices and cropping systems remain insufficiently understood.MethodsIn this study, based on a long-term experiment on the Loess Plateau, we investigated the effects of tillage (chisel plow tillage, CPT; zero tillage, ZT; plow tillage, PT) and cropping systems [summer maize (Zea mays L.)-winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.), MW; summer soybean (Glycine max L.)-winter wheat, SW] on rhizosphere carbon, nitrogen, and extracellular enzyme dynamics during key growth stages of winter wheat over two growing seasons.ResultsCPT and ZT significantly improved rhizosphere soil labile organic carbon, nitrogen availability, and hydrolytic enzyme activity when compared with PT. Soil properties varied across cropping systems and were influenced by winter wheat growth stages. Compared with MW, SW increased nitrate nitrogen (NO3--N), ammonium nitrogen, and permanganate-oxidizable organic carbon during winter dormancy, it decreased microbial biomass carbon, microbial biomass nitrogen, and dissolved organic carbon contents during the ripening stage. Further analysis revealed negative correlations between NO3--N and dissolved organic nitrogen with nitrogen-acquiring enzymes and polyphenol oxidase activities, whereas labile organic carbon was positively correlated with enzyme activities.ConclusionsOverall, conservation tillage increased rhizosphere soil carbon and nitrogen levels, with the effect of the cropping system varying across growth stages. Conservation tillage, when integrated with optimized cropping systems, should account for carbon and nitrogen dynamics across various growth stages to effectively improve nutrient management.