*3.3. Plant Characterization*

Table 4 reports the mean biometric features of plants at the end of the experiment. The escaroles from WB and bWB amended pots had a number of leaves 1.7- and 1.4- times higher, respectively, than plants cultivated on CTP pots. In particular, WBP and bWBP pots had a yield of 1.95 and 1.70 times higher than CTP, respectively.



Data are the means of three independent experiments ± standard deviations (n = 3). a–b Values in the same column followed by a different letter are significantly different according to the HSD test. \* Significant at *p* ≤ 0.05; \*\*\* Significant at *p* ≤ 0.001; ns: not significant.

The indirect measurement of the chlorophyll content (Spad units) confirmed the biometric results (Figure 1). During the first 25 days after transplantation (DAT), all treatments did not show significant differences in the spad values even if an increasing trend could be observed for the bWB amended pots already from 22 DAT. From 27 to 29 DAT, bWB pots showed the highest spad values, followed by WB, while CTP escaroles had the lowest chlorophyll content. From 32 DAT until the end of the trial, plants amended with both biomasses resulted in the highest spad values, while CTP showed a slow decline of the chlorophyll content.

Lastly, the P, B, Mn, Fe, and Cu content of escarole leaves at the end of the trial, was also measured (Table 5). As observed for the available P of the corresponding soils, the application of WB and bWB significantly decreased the P concentration in escarole leaves by 63% and 59%, respectively, compared to those collected from the CTP pots. Similarly, the B content was 2 and 7 times higher in leaves from CTP compared to WBP and bWBP, respectively. Mn, Fe, and Cu concentration did not differ significantly among leaves of all treatments.

**Figure 1.** Effect of the biomasses on chlorophyll content of escaroles grown in control soil (CTA), soil amended with wasted bread (WB), and soil amended with bioprocessed wasted bread (bWB, treated with amylase and fermented with *Lactiplantibacillus plantarum* H64). a–b Different letters indicate significant differences among the data according to the HSD test. Vertical bars represent the standard deviation.

**Table 5.** Micronutrients and phosphorous content expressed as mg kg−1, of escarole leaves grown in control soil (CTP), soil amended with wasted bread (WBP), and soil amended with bioprocessed wasted bread (bWBP, treated with amylase and fermented with *Lactiplantibacillus plantarum* H64).


Data are the means of three independent experiments ± standard deviations (n = 3). a–b Values in each column followed by a different letter are significantly different according to HSD.test. \* Significant at *p* ≤ 0.05; \*\* Significant at *p* ≤ 0.01, ns: not significant.
