Table 4: Initial and final heavy metal content (mean ± S.E.) and percent change over initial heavy metal content of different proportions of milk processing industry sludge and cattle dung with and without earthworms.

Heavy metals ME0 MW0 ME25 MW25 ME50 MW50 ME75 MW75 ME100 MW100
Cu mg/kg Initial 5.55
±0.17		 5.71
± 0.11		 9.75
±0.11		 9.36
±0.26		 12.62
±0.14		 12.88
±0.22		 17.80
±0.24		 17.71
±0.29		 22.42
±0.22		 21.99
±0.09
Final 3.73
±0.09**		 4.49
± 0.11*		 5.40
±0.2**		 7.42
±0.32		 7.89
±0.09**		 10.11
±0.04		 11.39
±0.25**		 14.56
±0.18		 14.97
±0.22*		 19.18
±0.18
% Change -32.79 -21.36 -44.61 -20.72 -37.48 -21.50 -36.01 -17.78 -33.22 -12.77
Pb mg/kg Initial 8.09
±0.11		 6.46
±0.06		 8.79
±0.09		 8.28
±0.08		 12.89
±0.21		 11.99
±0.01		 15.78
±0.03		 15.80
±0.3		 18.02
±0.07		 17.65
±0.15
Final 5.02
±0.07**		 5.63
±0.18		 5.27
±0.10**		 6.63
±0.08*		 7.35
±025*		 9.47
±0.33		 9.54
±0.07*		 11.79
±0.11*		 12.14
±0.36*		 14.16
±0.14
% Change -37.95 -19.93 -40.04 -21.02 -42.97 -25.37 -39.54 -19.77 -32.63 -13.90
Mn mg/kg Initial 40.61
±0.44		 38.61
±0.11		 48.24
±0.68		 47.07
±0.57		 55.17
±0.42		 55.37
±0.47		 68.26
±0.26		 68.34
±0.33		 85.11
±0.87		 84.33
±0.58
Final 25.85
±0.17**		 33.24
±0.26*		 33.90
±0.8**		 40.45
±0.23		 41.95
±0.07*		 48.23
±0.43**		 49.23
±1.09*		 58.65
±0.48		 63.32
±0.87*		 73.79
±0.29
% Change -36.34 -13.90 -29.72 -14.00 -23.96 -12.89 -27.88 -14.17 -25.60 -12.49
Cr mg/kg Initial 12.07
±0.37		 12.97
±0.12		 15.34
±0.15		 15.24
±0.13		 17.75
±0.65		 18.77
±0.17		 24.25
±0.57		 22.96
±0.26		 30.87
±0.12		 31.56
±0.11
Final 7.52
±0.47**		 9.80
±0.06*		 9.10
±0.1**		 12.16
±0.12		 12.25
±0.25*		 15.23
±0.23*		 16.54
±0.16*		 18.79
±0.14**		 21.06
±0.59*		 25.99
±0.09
% Change -37.69 -23.97 -40.67 -25.32 -30.98 -18.85 -33.36 -18.16 -33.91 -17.64

Significance level by student’s paired t-test.*p≤ 0.05, **p≤ 0.01. Maximum %change is shown in bold letters and minimum in italics, with earthworm waste proportions.