The impending crisis for food production is the biggest threat in sustenance of soil resources due to industrial farming practices adopted by majority of the farmers in Southern Telangana Zone (STZ) of India, which could extensively degrade the soil if not substituted by soil resource saving agricultural systems. This experiment is aimed to assess the influence of tillage and weed management on soil quality parameters (SQPs) and monitor the maize grain yield after three-years with CA under cotton-maize-green manure cropping system. Three tillage practices; T ₁: conventional (CT)–conventional (CT)–fallow, T ₂: conventional (CT)–zero (ZT) – zero (ZT) and T ₃: ZT+R (residue retention)-ZT+R-ZT+R and weed management options; herbicides chemical weed control (W ₁ and W ₂), W ₃: integrated weed management (IWM) and W ₄: unweeded control was laid in split-plot design. Soil samples collected in the 0–15 and 15–30 cm subsequent to harvest of maize, were analyzed for pH, EC, available soil N, P, K, soil organic carbon (SOC), and computed for stratification ratio (SR), C-sequestration rate (CSR), carbon management indices (CMI) and carbon retention efficiency (CRE). The salient findings indicated that 9.1–15.3% of SOC, 10.2–15.1% of available soil N, 12.2 – 19.6% of available soil P in the 0 –15 cm and 1.20 of SR for SOC, N, P, K, 2.0 – 6.5% of active (C _ACT) pool in the 0 –30 cm soil layer was higher under ZT+R-ZT+R-ZT+R over CT-CT-Fallow and CT-ZT-ZT. Similarly, 36.0 – 58.1% of cumulative CSR, 29.4 –58.8% of CRE in the 0 –30 cm, and 17.0 – 30.3% of CMI in the 15–30 cm was higher under ZT+R-ZT+R-ZT+R over CT-CT-Fallow and CT-ZT-ZT. The C _PSV was the dominant contributor of SOC to total SOC over C _ACT in the 0-30 cm soil layer. The 49.0% and 52.0% of C _ACT pool was observed to be higher under ZT+R-ZT+R-ZT+R and unweeded control, respectively. The ZT+R-ZT+R-ZT+R had higher Kernel yield (KY) of 8.4 – 11.6% over CT-CT-Fallow and CT-ZT-ZT. KY was also 23.4 – 43.1% greater under W ₁, W ₂ and W ₃ than W ₄. The ZT+R-ZT+R-ZT+R in combination with all weed management practices responded positively on some SQPs as revealed by the biplots analysis in the 15–30 cm soil layer. ZT + R, and chemical weed control and IWM enhanced crop productivity and improvement on overall SQPs was exhibited by ZT + R particularly in the sub-surface soil layer due to less susceptibility to erosion and disturbance. ZT with crop residue retention and IWM alternative to chemical weed management can reverse soil degradation, while improving and sustaining soil resources and enhancing productivity.