Soil organic carbon, total nitrogen, available nutrients, and yield under different straw returning methods

•Straw mulching (SM) and straw burying (SB) increase crop yields and soil nutrient contents.•SB is more conducive to increasing soil organic carbon, soil total nitrogen, and soil total potassium than SM.•SM is more conducive to increase soil available nitrogen, soil available phosphorus, and soil available potassium than SB.•SM performed better than SB in arid regions.•SB performed better than SM where mean annual precipitation is >800 mm.