Abstract:【Objective】Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) can form a symbiotic structure with 80% of plants, and play important roles in the nutrient cycling of the plant-soil system. As a typical soil in south China, red soils are facing numerous challenges including rapid acidification, low phosphorus availability, and the degradation of soil microbiome functioning. Straw returning has been proposed as an effective method to improve the fertility of red soils. In order to improve and control the degradation of red soil, we studied the effect of the AMF community in the rhizosphere on corn phosphorus utilization efficiency in a typical red soil.【Method】In this study, we performed a long-term field experiment by returning straw with equal carbon content in the Red Soil Agroecosystem Experiment Station of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Yingtan, Jiangxi Province. Five fertilization treatments were set up, including no fertilization (CK), conventional NPK(N), NPK with straw (NS), NPK with straw and pig manure (NSM), and NPK with straw biochar (NB). High-throughput sequencing was used to estimate the diversity and structure of the rhizosphere AMF community in driving plant growth and phosphorus utilization efficiency under the different treatments.【Result】The results showed that soil properties were significantly affected after treatments with straw. The NSM treatment increased significantly the contents of soil organic carbon (SOC), total nitrogen (TN), total phosphorus (TP), and available phosphorus(AP), as well as the acid phosphomonoesterase (ACP) and alkaline phosphomonoesterase (ALP) activities. Treatments with straw significantly promoted the diversity and modified the structure of the rhizosphere AMF community. Glomus and Paraglomus were the two dominant genera in the AMF community. The diversity and structure of the AMF community were mainly affected by SOC. Corn yield and phosphorus utilization efficiency were the highest under the NSM treatment. Also, phosphate utilization efficiency was primarily affected by AP, TP, SOC, TN, the diversity and composition of the AMF community, and ACP activity.【Conclusion】The composition of the AMF community in the rhizosphere may regulate the phosphorus activation, corn productivity, and phosphorus utilization efficiency under all three treatments with straw. Our results highlight the importance of the rhizosphere AMF community in strengthening soil health and crop productivity.