Volume 5
Issue 2
Agronomy
JOURNAL OF
POLISH
AGRICULTURAL
UNIVERSITIES
Available Online: http://www.ejpau.media.pl/volume5/issue2/agronomy/abs-06.html
GEOSTATISTICAL APPROACH TO DATA FROM FIELD EXPERIMENTS WITH CHECK PLOTS
Janusz Gołaszewski
ABSTRACT
The paper suggests some indicators for the application of spatial methods in field experimentation. The indicators were based on the data from two field-breeding experiments with pea and field bean. Partially balanced square lattice designs were applied. The Smith’s index of soil heterogeneity b, chemical properties of the soil e.g. pH, Mg, P and K contents as well as data obtained from check plots sown with a single variety were used to evaluate spatial variation across the experiments. The Smith’s index of soil variability b showed a potential as a convenient tool to assess the purposefulness of background variation analysis by applying spatial methods. When b<0.6 one can expect a significantly increased efficiency of the experiment. Therefore the application of the nearest neighbour analysis or kriging to the data obtained from a net of check plots can produce the concomitant variable which can reduce the experimental error effectively.
Key words: heterogeneity of the soil, homogeneity of the soil, kriging, nearest neighbour analysis, NNA, semivariogram, Smith’s index of soil variability, soil variability, spatial variation.