Comparative Efficiency Of Alpha Lattice Design And Complete Randomized Block Design In Wheat, Maize And Potato Field Trials

Abstract

Field trials on each wheat, maize and potato were conducted for three years Viz. 2011 to 2014 in Agricultural Research Institute, Tarnab, Peshawar, Pakistan to gauge the efficiency of Alpha Lattice Design (ALD) in comparison to randomized complete block design. The results emphasize that randomized complete block (RCB) design  should be replaced by alpha lattice when treatments exceed ten due to the less reliability of homogenous blocks under circumstances. Results depicted that Alpha Lattice design provide better control on experimental variability among the experimental units under field conditions.  Improvement in the precision level in terms of decline in the mean square error, coefficient of variation and standard error of difference were recorded for the ALD. The coefficient of variation (CV) calculated for wheat, maize and potato yield trials were (9.20, 17.8 and 14.5) for alpha lattice and (17.32, 23.70 and 18.53) for RCB design respectively. The standard error of mean squares calculated for these trials were (292, 3.67 and 2.41) for alpha lattice and (437, 5.40 and 3.23) for RCB design respectively. The relative efficiency of trials shows that alpha lattice design was more efficient than RCB design. The value of relative efficiency (1.49, 1.47 and 1.34) indicates that the use of alpha lattice design instead of randomized complete block design (RCBD) increased experimental efficiency by 49, 47 and 34 percent respectively.

Key Words: Alpha Lattice Design, Mean Square Error, Coefficient of Variation, Standard Error Difference, Relative Efficiency.