Table 6 Shoot biomass improvement (%) of the different BE treatments relative to the un-inoculated control (BE0)

Overall BE effect

(across all treatments)

7.5%

5.2%

6.0%

 Number of observations

50

87

78

BE effect in the different soils (across all fertilizers types)

 Buus (Switzerland)

2.7%b^a

0.4%b^a

8%a^a

 Castel (Italy)

12.3%a^a

7.8%b^a

6.7%a^a

 Vörden (Germany)

Not measured

3.4%ab^a

3.6%b^a

 Taastrup (Denmark)

Not measured

17.0%a^a

Not measured

BE effect with the different fertilizer types (across all soils)^b

 No fertilizer added

10.8%a^a

−1.2%b^a

−11.5% b^a

 Organic fertilizer

6.9%a^a

14.0%a ^a

13.0% a ^a

 Inorganic fertilizer

6.4%a^a

1.5%b^a

7.3% a^a

ANOVA on the effect of soil, fertilizer type and their interaction

 Soil (p value)

0.0002 (df = 1)

0.0070 (df = 3)

0.0054 (df = 2)

 Fertilizer type (p-value)

ns (df = 2)

<0.0001 (df = 2)

<0.0001 (df = 2)

 Soil x fertilizer type (p-value)

<0.0001 (df = 2)

<0.0001 (df = 6)

<0.0001 (df = 4)