A soil texture manipulation doubled the priming effect following crop straw addition as estimated by two models

•Soil texture manipulation increased macroporosity and led to microbial community changes following straw addition.•The priming effects were similar as estimated according to  δ13C abundances of labeled maize straw and its labile fractions.•The priming effects were similar as estimated by two contrasting models.•Soil texture manipulation increased straw decomposition and priming effect similarly by 1.7 fold.