Below a reporting limit is not the same as zero
A digestate table can contain numbers, inequalities and method qualifiers. Copy them together before calculating or comparing. The synthetic report below teaches how to read a qualified result; it is not a sample analysis, an application recommendation or a compliance assessment.

1. Copy the sample identity, date, material basis, units, method and every qualifier. Ask the laboratory whether its “<” means a detection limit, a quantification limit or another reporting convention.
2. Compare only matching analytes and bases. A result in milligrams per kilogram of dry matter is not directly comparable with a fresh-mass result without the corresponding dry-matter information.
3. Keep an inequality as an inequality. Do not replace “<0.20” with zero, 0.10 or 0.20 merely to make a spreadsheet calculate a mean.
4. Before a decision, request the meaning of the qualifier, uncertainty where applicable, and the decision rule used against the relevant current requirement. Leave compliance unresolved without those inputs.

Synthetic analyte A: <0.20 mg/kg dry matter; laboratory code Q. Meaning of Q and of the threshold must be obtained from that laboratory.
Synthetic analyte B: 0.35 mg/kg dry matter. A reported number alone does not identify its uncertainty or prove it is comparable with another method.
What A establishes: The report places A below its stated reporting threshold for that procedure. It does not establish absolute absence.
Unsafe spreadsheet change: Entering zero discards the limit and qualifier. Keep original_result = “<0.20”, unit = “mg/kg DM”, qualifier = “Q”; analysis_value remains unresolved.
Laboratory question to copy: For sample __ and analyte __, what does __ mean? Is it LOD or LOQ? Which basis, uncertainty and decision rule apply to the intended comparison?

Synthetic analyte A: ____________________
Synthetic analyte B: ____________________
What A establishes: ____________________
Unsafe spreadsheet change: ____________________
Laboratory question to copy: ____________________
Detection, quantification and a regulatory decision are different questions. Do not turn this illustrative threshold into a limit for any real digestate or jurisdiction.

IUPAC — limit of detection — https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/L03540