Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal communities in soybean rhizosphere soils from major producing regions of Benin
This dataset comprises Illumina-based metabarcoding reads of arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi DNA extracted from soybean rhizosphere soils collected across major soybean-producing regions of Benin. The study aimed to characterize the molecular diversity and community composition of AM fungi associated with soybean roots and to identify key environmental drivers shaping their distribution. Rhizosphere soil samples were collected from representative sites spanning different agroecological zones, with metadata including soil pH, texture, organic carbon, and climatic parameters. DNA was extracted using standard soil DNA protocols, and the AM fungal community was amplified using primers (Wanda-AML2) targeting the 18S rRNA gene region before sequencing on the Illumina MiSeq platform. The resulting data provide the first country-scale molecular reference of AM fungi communities in soybean systems from Benin.