Summary
Testing of lines or families in an increasing number of replications increases the accuracy of evaluating the entries and thus enlarges the heritability as well as the expected response to selection. However, associated with this is a decrease in the number of entries that can be evaluated. This counterbalances the anticipated improvement in selection response due to more intensive testing.
The mathematical background for deriving the optimal number of replications as well as illustrations of some calculations are elaborated.
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References
Falconer, D. S., 1981. Introduction to quantitative genetics. 2nd Ed. Longman, London, pp. 340.
Townley-Smith, T. F., E. A. Hurd & D. S. McBean, 1973. Techniques of selection for yield in wheat. Proc. 4th Internat. Wheat Genetics Symposium, Missouri Agr. Exp. Sta., Columbia, Mo.
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Bos, I. The optimum number of replications when testing lines or families on a fixed number of plots. Euphytica 32, 311–318 (1983). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00021439
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00021439