Diversity of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi communities in contrasted plantain field soils in Côte d’Ivoire as revealed by Illumina Miseq

The arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) communities of plantain rhizosphere soils were investigated by Illumina MiSeq technology. We analyzed the possible correlation between soil characteristics, AMF abundance and community composition in plantain field soils within three different agro-ecological zones. We used principal component analysis to test the relative contribution of each agro-ecological zone in explaining AMF community composition variation in field soils. Pearson correlations were used to identify the soil properties that significantly explained AMF community compositions within the three zones. The results showed that despite the fact that the three zones exhibited contrasted soils, AMF communities within the three zones were dominated by Glomeraceae, with Rhyzophagus as the main genus (72.75% of AMF identified genera). Soil types determined the distribution of AMF communities in plantain field soils, and this effect was attributed to total phosphorus, organic matter, Ca2+, Mg2+ and Na+.