Background and aims <p>Under the context of nitrogen fertilizer input reduction, the yield response of wheat to green manure and straw incorporation remains poorly resolved. To address this gap, this article aims to elucidate the dynamic coupling among wheat yield, soil nutrient availability, and soil bacterial community under these management practices.</p> Methods <p>We set up four nutrient management measures: control (CK), optimized N fertilization (OPT), OPT plus green manure returning (GM), and OPT plus wheat straw returning (SR). Soil samples were collected at the soybean-growing stage (A), soybean-incorporation stage (B), and wheat jointing stage (C) to determine soil chemical properties and bacterial community. We analyzed the data by the methods of significance testing, dimensionality reduction, network analysis, correlation analysis, and structural equation modeling.</p> Results <p>Compared with CK, OPT enriched the abundance of phylum Chloroflexi to promote soil NH₄⁺, thereby increasing wheat yield. Compared with OPT, GM raised the abundance of phylum Chloroflexi and Rokubacteria, intensifying soil C (carbon)–N–S (sulfur) cycling and accelerating nutrient released from decomposing biomass, which produced an additional yield gain. In contrast, SR elevated the abundance of phylum Acidobacteria, Rokubacteria, and Latescibacteria but markedly reduced the abundance of phylum Actinobacteria; coupled with the straw’s high C:N ratio, which impeded straw decomposition, depleted mineral nitrogen, and ultimately lowered wheat yield.</p> Conclusions <p>Optimized nitrogen fertilization plus green manure incorporation is a feasible measure to ensure high and stable yield of wheat under the context of reducing chemical fertilizer application.</p>