. 2021 Apr 24;10(5):861. doi: 10.3390/plants10050861

Table 3.

Analysis of variance and means comparison for pigments and functional traits in soybean seedlings in response to different biostimulant (B) concentrations (K-0.01, K-0.05, and K-0.5%) and light quality (LQ) regimes (FL, FS, and RB) as well as under 12 different combinations of B × LQ. Different letters within each column indicate significant differences according to Student–Newman–Keuls multiple comparison tests (p < 0.05). Asterisks (*) represent the level of significance for main factors (B, LQ) and their interaction (B × LQ): NS—not significant; * p < 0.05; ** p < 0.01; *** p < 0.001. Seeds treated with H₂O served as a control.

	Pigments			Functional Traits
	CHL	FLAV	ANTH	NBI	Φ_PSII	NPQ	F_v/F_m
B
H₂O	37 a	1.32 a	0.208 a	28 a	0.45 b	1.46 b	0.741 b
K-0.01%	36 a	1.28 a	0.207 a	29 a	0.44 b	1.29 c	0.748 b
K-0.05%	38 a	1.27 a	0.205 a	30 a	0.51 a	1.12 d	0.765 a
K-0.5%	34 b	1.29 a	0.211 a	27 a	0.41 c	1.59 a	0.750 b
LQ
FL	34 b	1.23 b	0.210 a	29 a	0.36 b	1.74 a	0.753 a
FS	37 a	1.28 b	0.204 b	29 a	0.49 a	1.26 b	0.751 a
RB	37 a	1.38 a	0.211 a	26 b	0.51 a	1.10 c	0.747 a
Interaction
H₂O × FL	35 a	1.23 b	0.205 bc	29 ac	0.40 c	1.88 b	0.726 b
K-0.01% × FL	32 b	1.25 b	0.213 ab	26 bc	0.28 d	1.89 b	0.749 ab
K-0.05% × FL	40 a	1.15 b	0.198 c	35 a	0.51 ab	1.09 d	0.784 a
K-0.5% × FL	30 b	1.29 b	0.222 a	27 bc	0.26 d	2.11 a	0.754 ab
H₂O × FS	40 a	1.32 ab	0.202 bc	31 ab	0.46 b	1.39 c	0.735 ab
K-0.01% × FS	37 a	1.28 ab	0.207 bc	29 ac	0.52 ab	1.02 d	0.743 ab
K-0.05% × FS	37 a	1.16 b	0.203 bc	33 ab	0.51 ab	1.09 d	0.773 ab
K-0.5% × FS	34 a	1.35 a	0.203 bc	28 bc	0.45 b	1.51 c	0.754 ab
H₂O × RB	34 a	1.43 a	0.218 ab	24 c	0.50 ab	1.10 d	0.762 ab
K-0.01% × RB	40 a	1.33 ab	0.202 bc	30 ac	0.53 a	0.97 d	0.751 ab
K-0.05% × RB	33 a	1.49 a	0.216 ab	22 c	0.49 ab	1.19 d	0.735 ab
K-0.5% × RB	37 a	1.24 b	0.209 bc	30 ac	0.51 ab	1.15 d	0.741 ab
Significance
B	*	NS	NS	NS	***	***	*
LQ	*	***	**	*	***	***	NS
B × LQ	***	***	***	***	***	***	*

CHL: chlorophylls (r.u); FLAV: flavonoids (r.u); ANTH: anthocyanins (r.u); NBI: nitrogen balance index; Φ_PSII: effective quantum yield of PSII; NPQ: non-photochemical quenching; F_v/F_m: maximum PSII photochemical efficiency.