# Investigating the Effects of Fish Effluents as Organic Fertilisers on Basil (_Ocimum basilicum_)
## 3 Results
### Soil Microbiome  
In all treatments, the final species count was higher than the initial one; this was also true for the IT treatment, where only tap water was used (Figure 6).  
\begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{l l l l l} \hline
**Measurement** & **Substrate/Fertiliser** & **df** & **F-Value** & \(p\)**-Value** \\ \hline \multirow{3}{*}{Plant height} & Substrate & 1 & 5.032 & 0.027 \\  & Fertiliser & 2 & 5.973 & 0.003 \\  & Substrate/Fertiliser & 2 & 8.820 & \textless{}0.001 \\ \hline \multirow{3}{*}{Leaf biomass} & Substrate & 1 & 181.56 & \textless{}0.001 \\  & Fertiliser & 2 & 162.18 & \textless{}0.001 \\  & Substrate/Fertiliser & 2 & 13.61 & \textless{}0.001 \\ \hline \multirow{3}{*}{Stem diameter} & Substrate & 1 & 31.870 & \textless{}0.001 \\  & Fertiliser & 2 & 5.454 & 0.005 \\  & Substrate/Fertiliser & 2 & 7.458 & 0.001 \\ \hline \multirow{3}{*}{Nitrogen weight \%} & Substrate & 1 & 14.959 & 0.001 \\  & Fertiliser & 2 & 98.907 & \textless{}0.001 \\ \cline{1-1}  & Substrate/Fertiliser & 2 & 0.035 & 0.966 \\ \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table}
Table 4: Two-way ANOVA tables (df, F-values, and \(p\)-values) for the measurements, divided by substrate type, fertiliser type, and the interaction between substrate and fertiliser.  
Figure 5: Stem fresh weights, arranged by substrate type (I: compost-free substrate; C: compost substrate) and fertiliser type (F: fish water; FS: fish sludge; T: tap water).  
In treatments IF, IFS, and CFS, the species count was higher (819, 902, and 1245, respectively) halfway through the experiment than at the end (814, 867, and 990, respectively). The initial compost-free substrate, used in treatments IT, IF, and IFS, was lower in species count than the compost substrate used in treatments CT, CF, and CFS (678 vs. 817). This difference was also reflected in the final species count, given that all final species counts from treatments CT, CF, and CFS (933, 1126, and 990, respectively) were higher than all species counts from treatments IT, IF, and IFS (818, 814, and 867, respectively). The shared species number between the two initial substrates was 372 species.  
The most prevalent archaeal and bacterial (Figure 7) and fungal (Figure 8) genera across treatments in halfway and final samples are displayed.  
Figure 6: Total species (bacteria, archaea, and fungi) diversity across treatments at initial, halfway, and final experimental stages, with relative species number. The same initial compost-free substrate was used for treatments IT, IF and IFS, and the same initial compost substrate was used for treatments CT, CF, and CFS. Sample size (n) in the top right corner.  
Figure 7: Heatmaps of the most prevalent bacterial and archaeal genera both in the middle (**top two rows**) and at the end (**bottom two rows**) of the experiment, across all treatments.  
Regarding bacterial and archaeal genera across treatments, and taking into account the six most prevalent genera, _Massilia_ and _Sporosarcina_ were present in all treatments, in both halfway and final samples. In halfway samples, _Micromonospora_ was present only in treatments with compost-free substrate (IT, IF, and IFS), and _Lysobacter_ and _Devosia_ were present only in samples with compost substrate (CT, CF, and CFS). In final samples, _Pseudarthobacter_ was only present in treatments with compost-free substrate (IT, IF, and IFS), and _Lysobacter_ was only present in samples with compost substrate (CT, CF, and CFS). Regarding fungal genera across treatments, and taking into account the six most prevalent genera, _Penicillium_ was present in all treatments, in both halfway and final samples. In halfway samples, _Fusarium_ was present only in treatments with compost-free substrate (IT, IF, and IFS), and _Pseudogymnouscus_ was present only in samples with compost substrate (CT, CF, and CFS). In both bacterial and archaeal, and fungal analyses, most genera were found across multiple treatments and, in general, little variation was found, including when different fertiliser sources were considered.