Rotational strip intercropping of maize and peanut enhances productivity by improving crop photosynthetic production and optimizing soil nutrients and bacterial communities

•Rotational strip intercropping of maize and peanut (RMP) had obvious productivity.•The 6-year average land equivalent ratio (LER) of RMP was 1.19.•The improvement of photosynthetic physiology increased maize yield.•The optimization of soil nutrients and bacterial community contributed to peanut yield.•The dominant genera Sphingomonas and Gemmatimonas were positively correlated to soil nutrients.