Microbial loads and pH changes exhibited that the first three
Factors gained eigenvalues higher than 1. The discrimination of
samples is reported in the biplot of Fig. 3 showing the projection of
the cases (KLBs) onto the planes as a function of Factors 1 and 2. The
first two Factors represented up to 83.12% of the total variance.
Factor 1 manly contributed to discriminate cases, in fact, all samples
resulted closely related to each other with the exception of prickly
pear KLB, that was positively correlated with both Factors. Prickly
pear KLB, indeed, showed microbial counts on average higher than
others, in particular referred to PAB and VRBGA, and as well as
higher pH values. On the other hand, the variables associated to the
Factor 2 contributed only marginally to discriminate samples; in
particular, kiwifruit and grape KLBs showed the greatest variance in
terms of DTMC and DMRS.