Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Low High
A B D A
C D B C
B A D C
Replication
Each treatment is applied independently to two or more
experimental units
Variation among plots treated alike can be measured
Increases precision - as n increases, error decreases
7.0
6.5
6.0
5.5
5.0
4.5
4.0
3.5
3.0
2.5
2.0
1.5
1.0
0.5
0.0
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50
number of replicates
What determines the number of replications?
Border Effects
Plants along the edges of plots often perform differently
than those in the center of the plot
Border rows on the edge of a field or end of a plot have an
advantage less competition for resources
Plants on the perimeter of the plot can be influenced by
plant height or competition from adjacent plots
Machinery can drag the effects of one treatment into the
next plot
Fertilizer or irrigation can move from one plot to the next
Impact of border effect is greater with very small plots
Effects of competition
In general, experimental materials should be evaluated
under conditions that represent the target production
environment
Minimizing Border Effects
Leave alleys between plots to minimize drag
Remove plot edges and measure yield only on
center portion
Plant border plots surrounding the experiment
Experimental Design
An Experimental Design is a plan for the assignment
of the treatments to the plots in the experiment
Designs differ primarily in the way the plots are
grouped before the treatments are applied
How much restriction is imposed on the random
assignment of treatments to the plots
A B D A A B D C
C D B C C D B A
B A D C B A D C
Why do I need a design?
To provide an estimate of experimental error
To increase precision (blocking)
To provide information needed to perform tests
of significance and construct interval estimates
To facilitate the application of treatments -
particularly cultural operations
Factors to be Considered
Physical and topographic features
Soil variability
Number and nature of treatments
Experimental material (crop, animal, pathogen, etc.)
Duration of the experiment
Machinery to be used
Size of the difference to be detected
Significance level to be used
Experimental resources
Cost (money, time, personnel)
Cardinal Rule:
A B D A
C D B C
B A D C
Advantages of a CRD
Flexibility
Any number of treatments and any number of
replications
Dont have to have the same number of replications
per treatment (but more efficient if you do)
Simple statistical analysis
Even if you have unequal replication
Missing plots do not complicate the analysis
Maximum error degrees of freedom
Disadvantage of CRD
Low precision if the plots are not uniform
A B D A
C D B C
B A D C
Uses for the CRD
If the experimental site is relatively uniform
If a large fraction of the plots may not respond or
may be lost
If the number of plots is limited
Design Construction
No restriction on the assignment of treatments to the
plots
Each treatment is equally likely to be assigned to any
plot
Should use some sort of mechanical procedure to
prevent personal bias
Assignment of random numbers may be by:
lot (draw a number )
computer assignment
using a random number table
Random Assignment by Lot
We have an experiment to test three varieties:
the top line from Oregon, Washington, and Idaho
to find which grows best in our area ----- t=3, r=4
A1 15
12
6
2 3 4
A A
5 6 7 8
A
9 10 11 12
Random Assignment by Computer (Excel)