Effects of Biosolids at Varying Rates on Earthworms (Eisenia fetida) and Springtails (Folsomia candida)

Table 2

The effect of rate of Biosolid 1on Eisenia fetida adult mortality, body weight, and number of progeny when provided with cowdung as food or in the absence of dung (mean of 6 replicates, 10 worms per replicate).

Biosolid rate t ha^−1	Worm No. pre-trial	Worm No. posttrial	Worm wt. g pre-trial	Worm wt. g posttrial	No. juvenile worms
Cowdung provided
0	10	10.0	0.3106	0.3311	68.2
2	10	10.0	0.2942	0.3202	95.2
5	10	9.8	0.2920	0.3404	81.0
10	10	10.0	0.3024	0.3773	32.3
20	10	9.8	0.3092	0.4735	0.0
sed		0.129	0.0115	0.0188	12.88
No dung
0	10	10.0	0.3102	0.2043	1.2
2	10	10.0	0.3121	0.2665	15.5
5	10	10.0	0.3162	0.3408	21.7
10	10	10.0	0.3060	0.4413	0.7
20	10	1.7	0.3025	0.3652	0.0
sed		0.3887	0.0173	0.0189	2.911
Dung effect (𝑃-value)		—	.254	<.0001	—
Biosolid rate effect (𝑃-value)		—	.963	<.0001	—
Mean value + cowdung		9.93^a	0.3017^a	—	55.33^a
Mean value − cowdung		8.33^b	0.3094^a	—	7.8^b

^a,bBonferroni grouping; values with different superscripts differ significantly.
sed: Standard Error of the Difference between Means.