Climate change and intensive agricultural practices threaten wheat productivity; therefore, the development of sustainable strategies is required. This study hypoth- esized that integrating legume cover crops under conservation tillage could sustain winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) productivity while enhancing agroecological resilience. The objective was to evaluate the influence of five planting patterns of winter wheat (wheat monoculture and four intercropping with legume cover crops: clover (Cl), hairy vetch (HV), grass pea (GP), and bitter vetch [BV]) under three tillage regimes (conventional tillage [CT], minimum tillage [MT], and no-tillage [NT]) on crop performance and interspecific competition. The field experiment was conducted in the 2018/2019 and 2019/2020 growing seasons in a semi-arid environment of Iran. A split-plot experimental design with three replications was adopted where the main plots were assigned to soil tillage treatments and subplots consisted of winter wheat planting patterns. Tillage significantly affected productivity, with MT consistently resulting in the highest wheat grain yield compared to CT and NT (6.02, 4.98, and 3.30 t ha−1, respectively). Among planting patterns, monoculture yielded the highest (7.23 t ha−1), even if winter wheat + bitter vetch (Wh + BV) achieved the highest cereal performance compared to other intercropping systems (4.85 vs. 3.91 t ha−1, respectively), particularly under MT. Competition indices indicated that wheat was generally dominant, yet the Wh + BV system demonstrated high competitive balance (Cb = 0.45) and aggressivity (A = 0.14), reflecting favorable complementarity. Findings suggest that MT combined with BV intercropping offers a viable strategy for sustainable intensification, effectively balancing crop productivity with the ecological benefits of cover crops in semi-arid environments.
