The Effects of Suillus luteus Inoculation on the Diversity of Fungal Communities and Their Structures in the Soil under Pinus massoniana Located in a Mining Area

Abstract

As important decomposers and plant symbionts, soil fungal communities play a major role in remediating heavy-metal-polluted soils. However, the diversity and structures of fungal communities generally remain unclear in mining areas. This study aimed to assess the rhizospheric fungal-community composition of Masson pine (Pinus massoniana) in the lead-zinc mining area of Suxian District, Hunan Province, China. This experiment undertook the following three treatments: Masson pine inoculated with or not inoculated with Suillus luteus, and bulk soil without plants as a control. The results thereof showed that inoculation of ectomycorrhizal fungi could enlarge plants’ capability to absorb heavy metals and secrete soil enzymes. The richness and diversity of fungi in the rhizospheric soil were significantly higher than of those in the bulk soil (p < 0.05), but no significant difference was noted between the rhizospheric soils inoculated with and not inoculated with ectomycorrhizal (ECM) fungi as the community structure changed. The rhizospheric fungi belonged to 6 phyla, 25 classes, 65 orders, 115 families, and 150 genera, and the dominant phyla were Chytridiomycota (50.49%), Ascomycota (38.54%), and Basidiomycota (9.02%). Through use of LEfSe and heatmapping, the relative abundances of Suillus, Paraglomus, Agaricus, and Tulasnella were found to be the highest in the soil with ECM fungus inoculation. RDA showed that the community structure nearly changed with ECM-fungus inoculation; this was significantly related to soil water content, the carbon–nitrogen ratio, bulk density, available potassium, and soil enzymes. Altogether, inoculation with ECM fungi may change the habitation environments of microorganisms and dominant fungi in soil, providing keystone screenings in heavy-metal-contaminated mining areas.