Soil degradation and climate change are threatening the sustainability of Mediterranean
olive orchards, typically grown under rainfed conditions and conventional soil tillage. Thus, implementing
sustainable soil management practices is crucial to preserve soil health and mitigate the
negative effects on plant performance. In this study, we assessed the effects of conventional tillage
(T), an early maturing and self-reseeding annual legume cover crop (LC) and its combination with
natural zeolites (ZL) on plant physiological performance, tree nutritional status, crop yield, and soil
physicochemical and microbiological properties. Although both LC and ZL enhanced the photosynthetic
activity, tree nutritional status, soil moisture and olive yield relative to T, ZL was clearly more
efficient at improving some soil health indicators, namely at the 0–10 cm soil layer, once soil acidity
decreased and Kjeldahl N, extractable P and B, cation exchange capacity and microbiological activity
increased, as evidenced by the higher concentrations of easily extractable and total glomalin-related
soil protein, microbial biomass carbon, microbial biomass quotient, and actinomycetes. Therefore,
using natural zeolite with leguminous cover crops appears to be a promising strategy of sustainable
soil management in rainfed olive orchards, as it is able to provide numerous ecosystem services.
