Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Statistical Design And Analysis Of Dairy Nutrition Experiments To Improve Detection Of Milk Response Differences, Stephen R. Lowry

Conference on Applied Statistics in Agriculture

The objective of many dairy nutrition experiments is to determine the effect of certain dietary treatments on milk production and quality responses. However, milk responses are quite variable and cows (experimental units) are expensive and have substantial maintenance costs. This manuscript reviews principles for planning to obtain good data relevant to the hypothesis, experimental design to control inherent variation, and interpreted analyses to facilitate understanding of dairy relationships. Emphasis is placed on assurance that milk response differences due to dietary treatments will have a high probability of being detected as significant. Guidelines addressing these principles along with suggested computer programs …