Agricultural activity is the major anthropogenic source of nitrous oxide (N₂O) emissions from terrestrial ecosystems. Conservation agriculture including crop residue management can play a key role in enhancing soil resilience to climate change and mitigating N₂O emissions. We investigated the effects of crop residue rates, including 100 % (R₁₀₀), 50 % (R₅₀), and residue removal (R₀), on N₂O emissions in corn-wheat rotation under conventional (CT) and no-tillage (NT) systems. The key factors evaluated affecting N₂O emissions included soil temperature, soil moisture, soil ammonium, and soil nitrate concentrations. Results showed that the N₂O emissions increased with the increasing rate of residue under both CT and NT systems. Both R₁₀₀ and R₅₀ significantly ( p < .05) increased the N₂O emissions compared to R₀ during the annual rotation cycle. Soil moisture and mineral nitrogen (ammonium and nitrate) were the main driving factors that stimulated N₂O emission in both CT and NT systems. In the NT and CT systems, cumulative N₂O emissions showed a significant increase with R₅₀ (+75.5 % in NT, +36.5 % in CT) and R₁₀₀ (+134 % in NT, +40 % in CT) as compared to R₀. Furthermore, no significant differences were found between R₁₀₀ and R₅₀ in the CT system, while in the NT system significant increases were observed for R₁₀₀ compared to R₅₀. Overall, our study justified as a first approach only during the first year that crop residue removal led to decreased N₂O emissions under semi-arid conditions. However, due to the deteriorating impact of crop residue removal on crop productivity and soil C sequestration, this management method cannot be considered a sustainable agronomic practice. We suggest long-term studies to determine the appropriate rate of postharvest crop residue to achieve less N₂O emissions and climate-friendly agricultural practices.