Relative effectiveness of alpha lattice design and randomized complete block design in the oats breeding experiment

In order to decrease errors and increase the precision and efficacy of crop improvement programmes, quality experimental design is required in addition to breeding methods. Present study was carried out in ninety-six oat genotypes to examine the relative efficiency of randomized complete block design (RCB) and alpha lattice design (ALD). The effectiveness of ALD over RCB design was determined by complex economic traits such as green forage yield per plant and seed yield per plant. The results showed ALD was more efficient than RCB design indicated by the relative efficiency of trials (>1.0). As a consequence, when the number of treatments to be evaluated in an experiment exceeds ten, RCBD should be substituted by ALD in crop field trials, because a homogenous block is difficult to obtain in field experiments.