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Fig. 3. (A) Initial bulk, (B) final bulk-planted, and (C) rhizosphere heterotrophic bacterial counts (colony forming units [CFU] g–1) in mine tailings-compost mixtures (mean + 1 SD). Treatment designations are as follows: K4 (pH 2.7); K6 (pH 5.7); OS (offsite control); CC (compost control); number following K4 and K6 are percentage mine tailings. A one way ANOVA determined there were significant differences between treatments for initial mean bulk and final mean bulk-planted heterotrophic counts (p < 0.0001), but there were no significant differences for mean rhizosphere heterotrophic counts (p = 0.7607). All plants in the K4–100 treatment died; therefore, rhizosphere counts were not determined (ND) for this treatment. Means with different letters are significantly different at p < 0.05 (Tukey's HSD test).
