## 2 Materials and Methods  
### Study Area  
Infiltration tests for the hydraulic characterisation of the soils took place at the experimental site FIELDLAB (42\({}^{\circ}\)57\({}^{\prime}\)22\({}^{\prime\prime}\) N, 12\({}^{\circ}\)22\({}^{\prime}\)25\({}^{\prime\prime}\) E) of the Department of Food, Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, University of Perugia. FIELDLAB is located in central Italy (Umbria region) and covers an entirely flat area of approximately 20 hectares. The climate is typically Mediterranean, with hot, dry summers and cold winters. The average annual precipitation is approximately 780 mm. According to the USDA Soil Taxonomy [19], the soils of the FIELDLAB can be classified as fine, mixed, mesic Type Haplustept and belong mainly to the textural classes loam and clay-loam [20; 21].  
The plots considered in the present study are part of two LTAEs: \"Rotation\" and \"NewS-moca\" (Figure 1). Within the LTAE \"Rotation\", we selected 12 small plots (3.5 m \(\times\) 7.0 m) that have been managed for more than 40 years with different cropping systems and crop residue management, continuous soft winter wheat, MoF; biennial rotations of soft winter wheat with maize, BiFM or faba bean, BiFV. These treatments are, in turn, combined with two methods of crop residue management, complete removal (plot with subscript \"R\") or their burial (plots with subscripts \"B\"), in both cases followed by surface ploughing. Further details of the Long-term Agroecosystem Experiment are available in [PERSON] et al. (2020).  
Within the LTAE \"NewSmoca\" (Figure 1), established in 2013, we selected 6 large (i.e., field-scale) plots (12 m \(\times\) 45 m). In this LTAE, since 2018, a biannual crop rotation grain maize-durum wheat was applied to three cropping systems (with two replicates each): (i) integrated conventional no-tillage with direct drilling of the crops (INT+), (ii) organic with inversion soil tillage (ORG) and (iii) integrated conventional with inversion tillage (INT). Durum wheat was grown as a sole crop in INT and INT+ (single rows 0.15 m and 0.19 m apart, respectively). While in ORG, durum wheat was temporarily intercropped (TIC, [21]) with faba beans (_Vicia faba_ L. var. minor Beck. cv [PERSON]) in alternate rows, 0.45 m apart with faba beans sown in the middle of the wheat inter-row space. At the beginning of wheat heading, the faba bean's biomass was incorporated into the wheat inter-row space by split rotary hoing [21]. Sowing density was 400 kernels m\({}^{-2}\) for wheat (in all systems) and 90 seeds m\({}^{-2}\) for faba beans (in ORG). In ORG and INT+, grain maize was preceded by an autumn-sown cover crop of hairy vetch (Vicia villosa Roth) and triticale (\(\times\)_Triticoscale_ Wittm.) in a mixture (triticale at 25% + hairy vetch at 75% of their ordinary full sowing rates, i.e., 400 and 200 seeds m\({}^{-2}\), respectively), while, in INT, the soil was left bare and weed-free (by mechanical control). Cover crop termination was carried out traditionally in ORG; the aboveground biomass of the mixture was moved, finely chopped (0.02-0.1 m) and immediately incorporated into the soil (0.2 m depth) by a rotary cultivator equipped with tines and a back-roller. In INT+, the cover crop biomass was roll-crimped and left on the soil surface as dead mulch  
Figure 1: Maps showing the position of the plots considered in each Long-term Agroecosystem Experiment (LTAE). The acronyms indicate different soil, crop or residue management (see the text for detailed descriptions).