*2.4. Statistical Analysis*

Statistical analyses were performed with SPSS 16.0 (SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL, USA) [31]. All results are presented as the means of three replicates. Data from each sampling stage were analyzed separately and were subjected to one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) followed by means comparison using Duncan's multiple range test (DMRT) using a statistically significant level of *p* < 0.05. In the correlation analysis, the nonparametric Spearman test was used for the correlation of different traits.
