Objective   Effect of long-term biogas slurry application on the diversity of fungal community in rhizosphere soil at areca taro fields was studied.

  Method   The taro planting plots that had been continuously fertilized with biogas slurry in the past 6 years were sampled to compare with areas without such treatment as control. Using the Illumina Miseq high-throughput sequencing platform, relationship between the fungal community and physicochemical characteristics of the soil was analyzed.

  Result   The contents of organic matters, alkaline nitrogen, and available potassium in the soil were significantly increased by the continuous biogas slurry application. The fungal species OUT, community richness, and diversity at the sites also increased significantly. At phylum level, Ascomycota, Basidiomycota, Mortierellomycota, Glomeromycota, etc. were identified in the soils, with Ascomycota being the most abundant. After 6-year biogas slurry application, the relative abundance of Mortierellomycetes in Mortierellomycota increased significantly, while that of Glomeromycetes in Glomeromycota decreased significantly in the soil. The dominant fungi at genus level were also changed significantly from control. The redundancy analysis indicated that the major factors affecting the change of fungal community diversity in soil included alkaline nitrogen, available potassium, and organic matters.

  Conclusion   Long-term biogas slurry fertilization altered the soil microenvironment leading to changes in the composition and diversity of rhizosphere fungal community.