Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi community in coffee cultivation under different agroforestry management systems in the Maciço de Baturité region, Brazil

Agroforestry systems (AFS) have been a promising alternative to mitigate the impacts of intensive use of agricultural inputs in coffee plantations and preserve the soil microbiota. Thus, the objective of this study was to evaluate the influence of coffee AFSs on the arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) community, aiming to optimize or validate an agroecological and sustainable system for coffee cultivation in a conservation area located in the Maciço de Baturité region, Ceará state, Brazil. Soil and root samples were obtained in an AFS with coffee cultivated in the Natural/Wild system, an AFS undergoing conversion to the syntropic system, and a conventional AFS. Spore counting, mycorrhizal colonization percentage, and AMF sequencing using the Illumina Miseq platform after DNA extraction and amplification were performed on the samples. Syntropic AFS and conventional AFS showed the highest values of mycorrhizal colonization. However, no differences were observed in the number of glomerospores and beta diversity data among the three AFSs. Around 80 amplicon sequence variants (ASVs) were identified in the AFSs. Syntropic AFS had a higher number of ASVs than the other AFSs. These results show that agroecosystem management can influence AMF communities. Acaulosporaceae and Glomeraceae were the most abundant AMF families in the AFSs.