Abstract: This paper studied the community structure of arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi in the rhizosphere soil of different peony (Paeonia suffruticosa) cultivars grown in Zhaolou Peony Garden of Heze in Shandong Province. A number of parameters describing this community structure, e.g., spore density, species- and genera composition, species richness, distribution frequency, species diversity indices, and Sorenson’s similarity coefficient, were examined. The species- and genera composition, species richness, and distribution frequency of AM fungi in rhizosphere soil varied with planted peony cultivars. A total of 10 AM fungal species were isolated from the rhizosphere soil of cultivars ‘Fengdan’ and ‘Zhaofen’, 9 species from the rhizosphere soil of ‘Wulong pengsheng’ and ‘Luoyang red’, and 8 species from the rhizosphere soil of ‘Hu red’. The spore density was the highest (59 per 50 g soil) in the rhizosphere soil of ‘Fengdan’, but the lowest (47 per 50 g soil) in the rhizosphere soil of ‘Hu red’; the species diversity index was the highest (1.89) in the rhizosphere soil of‘Zhaofen’, but the lowest (1.71) in the rhizosphere soil of ‘Hu red’; and the mycorrhizal colonization rate was the highest (63.6%) in rhizosphere soil of ‘Fengdan’ and ‘Hu red’, but the lowest (52.7%) in the rhizosphere soil of ‘Wulong pengsheng’. The Sorenson’s similarity coefficient of AM fungal species composition in the rhizosphere soil among the test cultivars ranged from 0.71 to 0.95, being the highest between ‘Wulong pengsheng’and ‘Fengdan’, and the lowest between ‘Luoyang red’ and ‘Hu red’. It was concluded that the gene type of peony could change the community structure of AM fungi in rhizosphere soil.

Key words: arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi, peony, cultivar, species , community, ISCR, antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs), multiple drug resistance genes (MDR), horizontal transfer, ecological risk.