Soil myxomycete community in temperate cropland and influence of straw turnover

Soil myxomycetes are ecologically intriguing protozoa that constitute an essential part of the structure of soil microfood webs and play important ecological roles. However, there is no report on soil myxomycetes obtained by high-throughput sequencing in agroecosystems. This study used high-throughput sequencing and two primer pairs to detect soil myxomycetes in cropland used to grow maize. The soil was subject to two planting modes differing by varied straw return and tillage. Thirty soil samples were analyzed. Using primers S3b/S31R, 198 operational taxonomic units (OTUs) of dark-spored myxomycetes (i.e., having brown-to-black spore mass) were identified. Using primers SFAtri/SRZtri, 108 OTUs of bright-spored (having bright-colored spore mass) myxomycetes were identified. These values indicated that agroecosystems are also a major myxomycete habitat. The β-diversity was significantly different between planting modes. The community structure of myxomycetes was sensitive to four soil properties (total nitrogen, total phosphorus, organic matter, water-soluble organic carbon) with significantly effect. This study provides new insights into the microhabitats of soil-inhabiting myxomycetes.