Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Designing Alfalfa Yield Trials For Comparing Long-Term Yields, G. B. Schaalje, S. N. Acharya

Conference on Applied Statistics in Agriculture

An aspect of experimental design that must be taken into consideration for variety trials of perennial crops is the number of years to continue the trial. By tradition, alfalfa forage yield trials are harvested for three or four production years, but the consumers of information from these trials, the producers, often keep their stands in production for more than four years. This study developed a statistical efficiency measure for evaluating the adequacy of forage trial designs with specified numbers of years and replicates, based on a multivariate linear model. The measure was applied to data from four long-term trials grown …