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Application of standard statistical methods in the analysis of complex data generated from soil bioassays to assess the impacts of agrochemical-containing sludge amendments

The use of sludge as soil amendment is widely encouraged by its high contents in organic matter and plant nutrients. Nevertheless, agrochemicals potentially present in sludge could be harmful to terrestrial ecosystems. The present work aimed to apply standard statistical methods for suitable assessment of the ecotoxicological impacts of sludge amendments on soil, involving the following factors: the type of treated sludge, their application dose, and their contents in agrochemicals. Terrestrial Model Ecosystems were used to assess the effects of sludge amendments on endpoints from different trophic levels of the soil ecosystem, including an in vitro estrogenic bioassay on soil leachates. Here, we show the significant negative effects of the highest dose of sludge in most of the soil bioassays. Thermally dried sludge increased significantly the microbial activity leading to lower contamination of leachates with endocrine disrupting molecules. Agrochemicals contents of sludge have only significant impacts on increasing the delay of germination of plant seeds. Soil bioassays are thus complementary to sludge chemical analysis when the impacts of its application on soil should be assessed: significant negative impacts were related to the intrinsic composition of sludge rather than its agrochemicals contents. We conclude that standard statistical methods are relevant tools for the analysis of complex data generated from this type of experiment.