Offered Papers Theme C: Delivering the Benefits from Grassland
Description
The experimental unit for animal average daily gain (ADG) and gain/ha in grazing trials is the paddock. Grazing trials on research stations often are conducted using small paddocks because animal and land costs restrict the number of treatments, replicates, and animals per paddock. Land and animal restrictions can be reduced by conducting trials on farms using animals provided by cooperating farmers. Farmers typically want only a single replicate on their farms and as result, virtually all on-farm trials in the USA and elsewhere have been un-replicated demonstration trials from which estimates of experimental error cannot be obtained. Farms can be used as replicates but concerns about statistical precision and the ability to detect treatment differences to date has limited the use of this design in the USA to a single study which we conducted in the Central Great Plains in the 1990's. Our objective is to compare the statistical precision of this on-farm grazing trial with replicated paddock trials on research stations in the same geographical region.
Included in
Agricultural Science Commons, Agronomy and Crop Sciences Commons, Plant Biology Commons, Plant Pathology Commons, Soil Science Commons, Weed Science Commons
Statistical Precision of a Replicated Farm Grazing Trial Versus Replicated Paddock Trials
The experimental unit for animal average daily gain (ADG) and gain/ha in grazing trials is the paddock. Grazing trials on research stations often are conducted using small paddocks because animal and land costs restrict the number of treatments, replicates, and animals per paddock. Land and animal restrictions can be reduced by conducting trials on farms using animals provided by cooperating farmers. Farmers typically want only a single replicate on their farms and as result, virtually all on-farm trials in the USA and elsewhere have been un-replicated demonstration trials from which estimates of experimental error cannot be obtained. Farms can be used as replicates but concerns about statistical precision and the ability to detect treatment differences to date has limited the use of this design in the USA to a single study which we conducted in the Central Great Plains in the 1990's. Our objective is to compare the statistical precision of this on-farm grazing trial with replicated paddock trials on research stations in the same geographical region.
