Guide Plant Breeding Technician IT

• Company Goals
• Outline
• Setting up a work space
• Working with cereals
• Working with beans
• Working with Maize
• Using plant breeding software
• Experimenting
• Equipment

Contents 1 MAIZE 1.1 Isolated Populations (POP's) 1.2 Isolated Crossing Blocks 1.2.1 Detasseling and Pollination Work 1.3 Designs for material that is to be crossed by hand 1.4 Crossing Block and Misc. Cross Pedigrees 1.4.1 Insufficient male seed for topcrosses 1.4.2 Regarding the Direction of a Cross 1.5 Seed Preparation 1.5.1 Counting 1.5.2 Choosing material to plant 1.6 Inbreeding Nursery 1.6.1 Inbreeding Nursery Seedlist Sample Page 1.6.2 Inbreeding Nursery Innoculation 1.6.3 Selfing 1.6.3.1 Clothing 1.6.3.2 Water 1.6.3.3 Pollination Aprons 1.6.3.4 China Markers 1.6.3.5 Marking the date on the Tassel bags 1.6.3.6 Staplers 1.6.3.7 Shoot bags/Earbags 1.6.4 Pollinations 1.6.4.1 Making Pollinations 1.6.5 Inbreeding Nursery Harvest Work 1.6.6 Shelling the Inbreeding Nursery 1.6.7 Inventory 1.6.8 Creating Pedigrees 1.6.9 Placing labels on seed envelopes 1.6.10 Matching labels to envelopes 1.7 Sib Nursery 1.7.1 Sib Nursery Pollinations 1.7.2 Sib Nursery Harvest 1.7.3 Creating Pedigrees for newly harvested Sib Nursery seed 1.7.4 Sib Nursery Pedigree 1.8 Germplasm 2 MAIZE YIELD TRIALS 2.1 Promotion 2.2 Design of Experiments 2.3 Generic Seeds Yield Trial Selection and Seed 2.4 Experimental Design 2.5 Yield Trial Seed Selection 2.6 Yield Trial (Test) Seedlist Format 2.7 Seed Preparation 2.7.1 Manual (Hand) Counting 2.7.2 Using a Balance to Count 2.7.3 Rough and Ready Count 2.7.4 Modern Seed Counting and Packet Filling 2.8 Seed packets 2.9 Fungicide/Insecticide 2.10 Preliminary Work for Commercial Yield Trials 2.11 Working With Pre-Designed Yield Trials 2.11.1 Received Test design is not serpentine 2.11.2 Plot numbering conflict 2.11.3 First replicate is randomized 2.11.4 Minimizing filler plots 2.12 Field Design and Filling Planting Trays 2.13 Planting Plan 2.14 Doubling up with seed packets 2.15 Planting Tray Checksheet 2.16 Field Preparation (Field technician’s hat) 2.17 Seedbed creation (Field technician’s hat) 2.18 Application of Nitrogen (Field technician’s hat) 2.19 Measuring and Marking Ranges 2.20 Planting the green mile 2.20.1 Loading the trays(Envelopes) 2.20.2 Electric Indexer (plastic trays) 2.20.3 Making a straight first row 2.20.4 Checking seed depth and location 2.20.5 Sound off 2.20.6 Comments on speed vs. growth 2.20.7 Misplant 2.21 Yield Trial Notebook 2.21.1 Covers 2.21.2 Contents 2.21.3 Ratings 2.21.4 Front Cover 2.21.5 Inside Covers 2.21.6 Table of Contents Page 2.21.7 Sample Table of Contents Page 2.22 Planting Plans 2.23 New Designations and Abbreviations 2.24 Notebook 2.25 Thinning 2.25.1 Thinning Procedures 2.26 Staking the Plots 2.27 Vigour Notes 2.28 Notetaking 2.29 THE RED GREEN SHOW 2.29.1 Tagging Plots 2.30 Notes Taken Prior to Harvest 2.30.1 Information needed for compilation of Yield and Statistics 2.31 Yield Trial Harvest 2.31.1 Pattern of Harvest (Combine) 2.32 Getting the Data Together in the Computer 2.33 Yield Calculation 2.34 Statistics 2.35 Harvest Index 2.36 Yield Trial Report 2.37 Yield Trial Appendices 3 References 3.1 Journals Articles

MAIZE Edit

Adaptation Project Fields

Isolated Populations (POPs)

Crossing Block Fields

Isolated Crossing Blocks

Hand Pollination Nursery

Creating Pedigrees and Labels for Seed from Crossing Work

Nurseries

Seedlist Creation and Preparation of Seed for Planting (All crop nurseries)

Inbreeding Nursery

Seedlist Sample Page

Notebook

Innoculation

Selfing Work

maizegdb.org website (See video clips at website)

Harvest and Inventory Work Outline (Inbreds and Sibs)

Harvest Work (Inbreds and Sibs)

Shelling the Inbreeding Nursery

Inventory (Data Processing)

Creating Inbred Pedigrees

Creating Inbred Pedigrees for Blends

Placing Labels on Envelopes (All crop nurseries)

Sib Nursery

Notebook Sample

Pollinations

Harvest

Creating Pedigrees for Sib Nursery Seed

Isolated Populations (POP's) Edit

Overview

The Populations are part of a long term program of adaptation that may take many decades to complete. {C}The populations are grown in small fields of less than an acre that are isolated from any corn. They are open pollinated populations which means they are allowed to openly pollinate any other plants in the field without human intervention.

The seed is kept in the seed room in lidded, plastic ten-gallon pails labeled with masking tape and marker or in plastic burlap type bags with a tag stapled to a top corner and two stiff construction paper/cardboard strip tags in the bag.

They are the first of the corn to be planted.The Yield Trials are planted shortly after or possibly after a few POPs have been planted.&nbsp {C}The POPs are planted at around 24,000 plants per acre. This is less than the usual field planting of about 29,500 plants per acre (ppa) for hybrids. Many of the Pioneer hybrids are bred for planting at around 24,500 ppa but there do exist hybrids like KWS Loft that are specifically bred for high plant population rates and don't grow bigger cobs when the planting is at a lower rate. I have avoided using the term "plant population" in referring to the rates of planting so there will be no confusion with POP's.

Procedure

• Record in a small notebook for fieldwork the content of the planter boxes from 1-4 at the time of planting. The boxes are labeled from left to right when viewing from behind the planter. Usually Box 1 contains the early dry material and box 4 contains material that was wet at harvest time. Some other material of a related family might be added to the population in one of the boxes.

• After planting, the planter boxes should be poured into a container and then spun out ,shaken,tilted, and spun again to get out every kernel in the planter box. The reference to spinning refers to manually rotating the gear on the box for turning the fingers that move the seed into the planting tube where it drops into the ground.Usually this is done by removing the planter box from the planter, spinning the seed into a large cardboard box and then pouring the excess seed back into the pail or bag that it was stored in. The planter box has to be shaken and tipped in a certain way to get all the seeds out. If there is rattling when the planter box is shaken there is still seed inside. Check for seed that is stuck near the bottom of the box too.

• When replacing the planter boxes on the planter, make sure that the box is securely fastened to the planter and that the drive gears for the planter box are engaged. On the Kinze planter, the drive gears for a planter box are connected to a flat bar with a short vertical piece on one end pointing down and a kind of curved handle 1/4 of the way from the end. The drive gears are disengaged by pulling the flat bar through, up and over the bottom of a rectangular hole in a side plate and then dropping the flat bar so that the small vertical piece falls in front of the bottom of the small rectangular hole and prevents the flat bar from moving back to its engaged position. To engage the drive gears again, the flat bar must be lifted up, and the entire flat bar and the vertical piece allowed to move back through the hole to rest in behind the metal plate.

Diseased Plants

The POP's are usually left to themselves until just before the tassels appear. Then some work of chopping out poor plants is done. It might be done earlier too.Usually this is done regarding smut.

Pollinations

At the time of pollination, usually nothing is done but one or two very good plants might be crossed together by hand just to make sure they are crossed.

Harvest

Harvest September 5 [NOTE: Regional variation]

The harvest is to be done at around September 5th. This is a target date of maturity for the populations.

It is best to do it when there are still differences between the earliest and latest maturing plants.

The harvest is done manually and involves selection work based on plant characteristics, cob quality and dryness. One population, for example, has shanks that are too long and care must be taken to take only a small number of good cobs from plants with long shanks.

A husking pick is necessary for this work.

The harvesters should peel back the husk from good plants to see the cob quality and dryness. A good cob with lots of straight rows and a filled tip from a good plant is taken regardless of dryness. The harvested cobs are taken to one end of the field and dumped in a pile. The pile is sorted by dryness into three piles of dry,medium dry and wet cobs. Then the piles are sorted by cob characteristics such as length,number of rows,filled tip etc. The breeder takes about 1/4 dry cobs, 1/2 medium cobs and 1/4 wet cobs. The cobs that have the best quality and are dry may be called SELECT ears.

The cobs are put into three bags with labels showing the POP designation,the POP name and either SELECT (dry),medium or wet. E.G. POP Antigua Select ears, POP Antigua Medium 1 of 2, POP Antigua Medium 2 of 2, POP Antigua Wet

If there is more than one bag of each dryness type, be sure to label the tag with the number of bags for that dryness and the number of the bag.

The tags are just heavy construction paper strips about 1 in. wide by 4-8 in. wide. Usually they have been a dark red colour. A black, permanent ink marker was used in the field to mark the tags that were then put into the appropriate bag.

Drying

The ears are dried in the drying cupboard.

• Make sure the ears are dried well.

They should make a kind of wooden tubular bell sound when handled together when they are dry. If the cobs are not dry, the seed in the storage pail will get moldy and rot.

Shelling

All of the bags for the population are brought from the storage area to the shelling area. The Select or driest ears are grouped from best to worst and a sample is taken of each cob. Then the same is done for the medium and wet cobs.

Usually, the size of the sample taken from each cob has varied, although one could make a balanced bulk by counting the total number of all cobs collected, dividing this number into the desired storage weight. and taking a sample of this weight from each cob.

The samples from dry ears are usually larger than from wet ears and the samples from medium ears can vary a bit depending on the cob quality. The shelling is often done with the manual sheller and the amount to be saved from each cob is poured into a container which is later stirred to mix up the seed.

The container is labelled with tape and marker and placed in the seed room.

Tailoring for General and Specific Combining ability

After a decade of growth, it was decided that some of the populations were adapted well enough to begin taking material from them to create an inbred and to tailor the population in such a way as to encourage heterosis in hybrids produced from two inbreds from different isolated Populations. This plan interferes somewhat with the plan of adaptation to the environment.

The idea of this plan is to discover the patterns of heterosis,(general and specific combining ability) between plants from different Populations using "testers" and then to use the remnant seed of the best plants taken from a population to pollinate the entire population from which it was taken.

For example, there are two populations Leaming and Midland. Seed from a number of the best cobs from each population is taken and stored as single cob seed.

The next year, this seed is crossed to some well known inbreds from a particular family like LANCASTER or B73 to test how well the population might cross to known populations with known heterotic patterns. Midland and Leaming are known to form a heterotic pattern so when crossed to plants from the Leaming Population, the plants grown from those crosses may do very well the next year. So, in the third year, the original seed from the Midland cobs that made the best crosses to Leaming are planted in the Midland Population in known rows and all of the other plants or a large number of them in the population might be detasselled so the plants are pollinated by the plants that crossed well to Leaming.

Comments

This adaptation work with open pollinated material was inspired by work done by Dr. Arnel Hallauer in Iowa.

The crossing of late material to early material was not producing the desired results and there were problems with photoperiodism when moving material from equatorial regions to higher latitudes so the slower adaptation approach was adopted.This is an area to be researched.

Some breeders regard these adaptation efforts as a waste of time. One could also question what exactly is happening in these fields because there is a tendency to think in terms of the discredited ideas of Lamarck and Lysenko when discussing adaptation.An example is discussions of the work done in Illinois with increasing oil and protein content in maize.Is it just a case of genetic drift or founder effect?

Isolated Crossing Blocks Edit

These fields are grown in isolated places where there are no other cornfields in the immediate vicinity. In these fields, one male has been designated as the pollinator for all of the female plants. Usually these fields are planted with the planter but if they are small, they can be handplanted. There is no shootbagging done in these fields. Instead, all female plants are detasselled before they can produce pollen. It is very important NOT to miss detasseling a female plant and NOT leaving part of a broken tassel on a female plant where it can regrow or continue to grow and pollinate other plants. The design of these fields can vary. A general design is to plant the males every third or fourth row straight through with the rows between being the females with pathways similar to the other Nurseries. A border of male pollinators might also be used. This can take some planning and may even involve two passes over the field with the planter. Another method has been to plant the females just as for the inbreeding Nursery with paths between them and then to hand plant the males in clumps of 3 or four seeds every third row in the pathways.

Detasseling and Pollination Work Edit

Each day, go through the rows, straight down the field and detassel female plants with tassels starting. Do not remove more than the tassel if possible. Don't remove more than one leaf with the tassel if the leaf pulls out with the tassel. If the tassel is still quite small and doesn't come out easily, try removing it the next day rather than taking out several leaves with it.. If there is a timing mismatch, cut off a bundle of tassels from males along the perimeter or any with pollen and shake them over the late females.

• Also see the Wikipedia article on Detasselling: [1]

Hand Pollination Nursery

This Nursery consists of a large number of different varieties that are to be pollinated by hand. There are several different planting designs used. These can be marked out using different coloured construction paper flags (1 in. x 8.5 in. strips stapled around the stalk) on the rows.

Designs for material that is to be crossed by hand Edit

• Block of male and rows of females

In this design, a block of rows (maybe 5-10 rows depending on the number of females) of a single variety is grown and designated as the male pollinators. This block is followed by single rows each containing a different variety that are designated to be females.

NB: Any plant breeder, pollination labourer, or other employee of Big Yellow Seeds that marks genotype information on a tassel bag or on a diagonally-striped-border crossing bag will be reprimanded and on discovery of a second offence, will be fired as an agent of industrial espionage. It is not necessary to place genotype information on tassel bags or diagonally striped border crossing bags as this information is clearly stated in the field notebooks according to the row number, and the derivations page and stored in the database upon which the field notebook is based. NB: Any plant breeder, pollination labourer, or other employee of Big Yellow Seeds that marks a tassel bag or diagonally-striped-border crossing bag with genotype information or the row number of the plant used as a female ABOVE the row number or genotype of the pollen source/male parent will be fired for willfull sabotage. 99% of the crosses to be made each year have been planned out in advance and the seed planted in designs that either don't involve the use of shoot bags and tassel/crossing bags or the plants in a specific row are to be hand pollinated with pollen from specifically designated rows of plants so marking the bags is unnessary. Harvest workers are instructed and trained to be alert to the presence of miscellaneous crosses flagged by the use of diagonally-striped-border crossing bags and how to handle and harvest them. However, it is best to remove/harvest miscellaneous crosses prior to harvesting of the nurseries and crossing blocks.

The block of males may not always be at the start of the group of females. One year, the males were planted in a four row strip on one side of the females.

When tagging the rows with coloured flags with the row# stamped on them, the male block can be given one colour and all of the females to be crossed to that male given another colour.

The basic procedure for pollinating is to take pollen from the tassels of the male block and put it on the silks of the females that follow the block of males. Several pollinations can be made with one bag of pollen similar to in the SIB Nursery.

Timing of maturity of male and female plants can be a problem in this Nursery.If the males no longer have pollen when a female has good long silks, pollen can be taken from the female to the block of males.

Both the males and the females are earbagged/shoot bagged. As much seed as possible is desired from each cross so earbag as many good plants as possible and if possible don't pollinate until there are lots of silks under the earbag. Don't trim/cut back the silks either, but make sure they are not exposed to foreign pollen.

Check the females first to see if one can be pollinated before taking pollen from the males.

After making the pollination, write on the tassel bag the Row # of the first row of the block of males, an X symbol or line below, and the row # of the female beneath, at the bottom. If in a hurry, the marking of the tassel bag can be neglected since it is a standard cross as per the design. Later a tag with the female row number will be created and put in the bag.

NB: Generic Seeds does not follow the 'Ladies First' convention when marking Tassel/Cross bags vertically in the field. The rule in the field is 'Male on Top, Female below'.

When marking TASSEL bags or CROSSING bags (tassel bags with a striped border on the faces), use your china marker to write the row number of the plant from which pollen was obtained or the first row number of the block of males from which pollen was obtained.It is not necessary to write an 'X' or the female row number since the female row number will be put on a tag which is put in a bag with the ears when the ears are harvested.

• ===Paired rows===

These are two varieties/cultivars placed beside each other that are to be crossed together. Officially, the odd rows are male and the even rows are female but the crosses are made both ways and recorded as Odd Row number  X  even row number or later as Female X Male when written horizontally (Ladies First) or Male X Female (Male on Top) when written vertically.

These rows can be tagged with pairs of tags of the same colour alternating with at least another different colour. E.g. ROW 1 - Red Tag, Row 2 - Red Tag, Row 3 - Blue Tag, Row 4 Blue Tag, Row 5 Red Tag, Row 6 Red Tag.

Rows 1 and 2 are crossed together, Rows 3 and 4 are crossed together, Rows 5 and 6 are crossed together.

• ===Misc pollinations===

These are unplanned pollinations that can occur anywhere in the Nursery and involve pollen taken from any Nursery. ALWAYS use the crossing bags with the diagonally-striped border when making a miscellaneous cross in any nursery or hand pollinated crossing block, especially if making such a cross in the Inbreeding Nursery. It is very important to mark the tassel bag/crossing bag with at least the correct source row of the pollen. The row number of the female can be obtained at harvest time and written on a construction paper/cardboard strip tag with a permanent ink marker and put in the harvest mesh bag with the ears.

Crossing Block and Misc. Cross Pedigrees Edit

These crossed pedigree updates have been the most difficult to deal with primarily because of formatting and identification problems. {C}The pedigrees of the parents used for crosses are not changed. They are just put together with an x or an asterisk (*) between them.

NOTE:The use of an asterisk in place of 'x' is not generally accepted procedure and might be confused with the use of '*' for backcrosses in Purdy pedigree notation.

NB: When writing pedigrees, Generic Seeds follows the 'Ladies First' convention only when writing a pedigree horizontally. When writing a pedigree vertically, the rule is ALWAYS 'Male on top, Female below'. This corresponds with the spatial location on the plant of the male and female inflorescences (tassel and ear).

For notebooks (horizontal pedigrees), the female is listed first, followed by the male on the same notebook row.

E.g. Female: Lan5, Male: B73,

Cross in book: Lan5 x B73 or Lan5/B73

NOTE: Use of '*' in place of 'x' conflicts with Purdy Notation and should be abandoned

For labels (usually written vertically), the Male is on top, the female is below with a horizontal line between male and female.

The label format is not a real problem if the male and female pedigrees are in separate columns that can be designated as fields for a database list. Printing the pedigree is then done using the fields.

Eg. Center text of male and female field cells, print female source row field or field value in top left corner, move over and print the current year in the top right corner, go down several lines and center, print male pedigree field,go down one line, print horizontal line, go down one line, center and print female pedigree field. Do next row in list

All of the information on both male and female should be kept but the row can be hard to read with so much data on it.

For topcrosses, the female row number can be used to find seed. This can also be done for misc crosses and hand pollinated rows but care should be taken to distinguish between different males crossed to the same female pedigree. The pedigrees on the abbreviation list and nursery or crossing block the cross was made in, can be used to figure this out. Usually, the envelopes will have the cross on them in marker by row number. {C}Identification problem: If the pedigree gets too long especially for inbreds, the cross is given a new designation.

E.g. R8W = (CO264 x KE833) * (CM220 x CM109*CM169)/(KE404 x W821) * (CM220 x CM105)

This was an eight way cross involving a female ((CO264 x KE833)*(CM220 x CM109*CM169)) and a male ((KE404 x W821)*(CM220 x CM105)). The male pedigree shows that it was made by first making two crosses and then crossing them together. That's 3 crosses to make the male.The asterisk is used to show that the pedigrees are from different plants. The female was made by first crossing CM 220 to CM109 and CO264 to KE833. Then the plant with the pedigree of CM220 x CM109 was pollinated by CM169 to make a new cross. The next year the two plants of CO264 x KE833 and CM220 x CM109*CM169 were crossed together. That's 4 crosses to make the female. Crossing the male to the female makes this an eight way cross. This explanation might be completely incorrect. R8W might just be a synthetic made by putting 9 parents in the same field and letting them cross pollinate.

Other examples of new designations:

FB 249 = CM249 x F2 x CM 249

B73B = B252 x B73

The seed is usually labeled without the new designation so the seed for a new designation on a seedlist must be found using source row numbers or some kind of index sheet showing new designations with full pedigrees and sources. {C}The breeder prefers that new designations carry some information about the parents.

E.g. PCB51 retains part of the pedigrees for Pioneer x CB51

LF833 = KE833 x Longfellow

AJA264 = CO264 x JA16 x A641

{C}All inbreds at S5 are considered pure and should be given a new designation. For related material the designation can be in order.

E.g. CSK20 = SK380-4-3-10-1-2

CSK21 = SK380-4-4-6-1-1

CSK22 = SK380-6-1-4-1-1

CSK23 = SK385-3-2-3-1-1

CSK24 = SK113-1-2-2-1-1

CSK25 = SK113-1-3-4-1-1

Countries have reserved pedigree designations.

Eg. Canadian government Research Station pedigrees consist of the country identifier C for Canada followed by the location of the research station that made the inbred.

• Ottawa = O
• Guelph = G
• Lethbridge = L
• Brandon = B
• Morden = M

E.g. CO418 is from Ottawa, CL30 is from Lethbridge, CM105 is from Morden, CG Lancaster is from Guelph, CB3 is from Brandon.

ADD INFORMATION REGARDING OTHER COUNTRY INBRED DESIGNATIONS HERE

E.g. B= Iowa (because there are other U.S. states that start with the letter 'I'.

Mo = Missouri (Mo17)

W= Wisconsin (W153)

LH = FRANCE?

Corporate Designation: Usally P is Pioneer as in P3979, P3984 or P651

Note: DK can stand for Dekalb but some of the older pedigrees have phenotype information in them such as OP for open pollinated and DK for deep kernel.

Formatting problems: Getting the pedigrees and all related information together beside each other is easy for topcrosses but harder for hand pollinated crossing blocks with paired rows and male blocks. Topcrosses use the same male on all females so the male pedigree and source information can be copied in a column beside the females. A column of x's can be inserted between them.

Then, new designations can be assigned to the new crosses in a column to the left of the females. A similar procedure can be used for male blocks followed by females in hand pollinated crossing blocks.

Paired rows in a hand crossing block must be placed beside each other. A simple method would be to copy the list and place the copy to the right of the original list but offset one row up. It is assumed for this that a distinction is not being made regarding which row of the pair was male or female. However, formatting protocol will assume for all seed from the same pair of rows that the female is on the left.

Miscellaneous Crosses were the worst to deal with. All miscellaneous crosses were recorded as row number x rownumber in the notebook on blank pages at the end of the Inbreeding nursery . Often on the back of the last few pages of the Inbreeding Nursery.

The best way used to get the pedigrees side by side was to work with two filtered database lists using source row numbers to select each parent (and all its information) of the crossed pair out of the notebook list.

Insufficient male seed for topcrosses Edit

Sometimes there is not enough seed of a particular male to pollinate all the females in a crossing block so seed has been added from closely related plants to the stock of seed used as the male. Since, there is more than one male pedigree, use either the pedigree of most of the seed or use a pedigree that would fit both by finding common pedigree info. E.g. If B73-5-1-1 and B73-5-1-2 are used for the male seed, the pedigree of the male used for labels could be B73-5-1-(1,2). It is a blend of cobs 1 and 2. If most of the seed is from B73-5-1-1, that pedigree could also be used as the male.

NOTE: The notation used for a blend (mix of related inbreds) was very idiosyncratic. It was denoted by using a round bracket containing the related pedigrees. A comma was used to separate noncontiguous values while a dash was used to denote a mix of contiguous pedigrees). E.g. Mixing inbred B73-1 and B73-3 would be denoted as B73-(1,3). Mixing B73-2 and B73-4 would be denoted as B73-(2,4). Mixing B73-1,B73-2 and B73-3 would be denoted B73-(1-3). If all of the inbredsthat differed by only the last number were mixed, it was denoted as B73-Bulk.

Technically, mixing the seed like this is not good because one does not know exactly, what was crossed to what. However, if testing for performance by family it can be ok.

NB: There doesn't seem to be much standardization regarding maize pedigree notation.I started using '*' in place of 'x' but this violates the Purdy notation used by small grains breeders (wheat etc.). Cimmyt appears to have used a modified Purdy system at least for the International Crop Information System (ICIS).In the Purdy system, a cross is denoted with a forward slash '/' rather than with 'x'. So (A x B) old notation = (A/B) Purdy.A second cross is shown with two forward slashes (//) and each additional cross is shown by placing the cross number between the slashes (/n/).

A x B = A/B

(A x B) x C = (A/B//C)

(A x B) x (C x D) = A/B//C/D

[(A x B) x C] x D = A/B//C/3/D

A backcross is shown using '*' and the number of times the specified parent was backcrossed. ((A x B) x B) = (A/2*B)

[(A x B) x B] x B = A/3*B

Regarding the Direction of a Cross Edit

The standard procedure has been to differentiate between crosses pollinated by one variety as the male and the other as the female and vice versa. AxB is considered a different cross than BxA.The female is always the first parent listed horizontally.

Reciprocal crosses should be the same except when sex-linked traits are involved or when considering traits that involve extranuclear material such as cytoplasm or the mitochondrial and chloroplast organelles and their genomes. If the traits involve only nuclear DNA, it doesn't matter much which variety was male or female. See Maternal Inheritance and Xenia at http://www.ndsu.edu/ndsu/abergstr/webcourses/genetics/mat/mat06.htm

Seed Preparation Edit

January - March

Selection Work and preparation of seed for planting

There may be a number of other tasks running concurrently from January to March but the main work is the selection of material to grow in the spring and preparation of seed for planting.

Selection work - General

The basic task at this time of year is to work from the Inventories to select the material that is to be prepared for planting and to print out the Seedlists. Often the Bean Nursery has been prepared first followed by the Isolated Crossing Blocks and GENERIC SEEDS Maize Yield Trials because these can be large and involve more seed counting and other work. Even though the Cereals are planted first, they are usually prepared last because often there are few changes to be made between the Inventory and Seedlist. All of the seedlists are open for additions and changes right up until a week or so after planting.

If a single database is being used to store the data for all seed in the storage room, there should be some indication in each database record regarding the Nursery the seed came from and the year that the seed was harvested. This is because much of what is planted the next season in a specific nursery is drawn from the previous year's inventory of that same nursery. It is rare to include material from 2 or more years previously or from another nursery.

The Seedlists are printed as 8.5 x 11 portrait size.

Counting Edit

Manual Counting

You need 2 corners cut from the top of a cardboard shoe box. They should have two sides that meet at a corner. Pour an amount of seed from the appropriate storage envelope into one corner piece. Slide the other corner piece under the first so the back edge is twice as long as for one piece and the open side is closest to you. Use a pointer of some kind, like a sharp pencil, to separate 2 or three seeds from the others. Move these seeds using the pencil in a horizontal sweeping motion to the other corner,counting by 2's or threes. Continue transferring seed from the one side to the other until you have 50 seeds in the other corner. Use the sides of the corner piece to help pour the 50 seeds into one of the empty envelopes. Repeat for the second envelope and then put any remnant seed back in the storage envelope. Put the storage envelope away and then put the newly filled envelopes in the small white trays.

Using a Balance to Count

The balance is for weights of less than 1 kg and will have a unit counting feature. See the instructions for use of the balance regarding how to proceed. Use a small pan rather than a large one. Remember to always tare out the pan's weight so you can work just with the weight of seed or unit count.

First, prepare the balance to take an average seed weight. This can be based on 5,10 or 20 seeds depending on the accuracy desired. Use the 10 or 20 seed average. If using the 20 seed average, count out 20 seeds into the pan and begin according to the instructions. The unit count should say 20 and adding one or two more should increase it by one or two units. Add more seed until you have 50 units, pour the 50 units into one of the empty envelopes. Pour 50 more units from the storage envelope into the pan and then pour these 50 units into the second empty envelope. Put the 2 newly filled envelopes into the small white tray and return the storage envelope to its proper place in the storage tray.

Since seed of different varieties will have different sizes and weights, the averaging procedure will have to be done for each new variety of seed. This means everytime the pedigree changes.

Rough and Ready Count

For certain nurseries, such as the Maize Inbreeding Nursery that will be overplanted and thinned at a later date, it is acceptable to measure out seed quantities by sight only. The point is that this can be done where the number of plants in a row or plot is not important. Only about 10 good plants are wanted in each row of the Maize Inbreeding Nursery but 15-20 seeds are planted. 20 seeds can be placed in the palm to get an idea of the amount and then a similar amount is poured into the palm of one hand each time seed is needed. The seed is then poured from the palm into the envelope with the correct row #.

{C}Modern Seed Counting Equipment

To see some modern seed counting equipment, surf to Seed Research Equipment Solutions [1]

Choosing material to plant Edit

POPULATIONS

The POPULATIONS are the first of the Maize to be planted. Usually, before and then after the Yield Trials are planted. They are planted in small isolated fields. No formal Seedlist is made for the POPULATIONS. One can make a list of the populations in the Seed Storage Room and consult with the breeder regarding which are likely to be planted and where. Eventually, the name of the Population and the location it was actually planted at is recorded in the field notebook at the time it is planted. The field notebook should also state the planter buckets in which different categories of seed such as dry, medium, wet or new seed were placed at startup. The planter buckets are numbered from 1 to 4 from left to right as viewed from behind the planter.

ISOLATED CROSSING BLOCKS

The Isolated Crossing Blocks Seedlists will consist of lists of Inbreds and material from other Nurseries that will be designated as females. The list is of single rows. One female per row. The format is basically that of the Inbred records. i.e. ROW#,Family,Pedigree,Source Row year. For the source row year column heading put the year last below Source Row as in Source Row 1999. That way the year is closest to the data if the top line should get missed or printed out on a line on the previous page. Note that the row #'s 1-2999 are reserved for the Inbreeding Nursery and rows 7001-8999 are reserved for the SIB Nursery . Always start with a number that ends in 1. E.g. 3001 or 9501. The male might not be designated until much later but a space should be provided at the top of the Seedlist to specify the male. Usually the Crossing Block is named for the Family of the male. If the male is a Stiff Stalk, it will be the Stiff Stalk Crossing Block.

Since the seed for crossing blocks can come from any Nursery or year, there can be several columns needed for source rows from different years of just the Inbreeding Nursery and then seed from other Nurseries will have to be specified somehow. The majority of the Inbreds will be taken from the previous year. It should be sufficient to print only that year's column for those Inbreds. If needed, the year before that can be printed too. If more than 2 columns are needed because some seed is from 3 or more years previously, the additional columns can be added in the computer version but printed out only for the pages where it is needed. This may be a bit of trouble for formatting the printing but is worth it in the number of pages that have letters that are big and easily read and not cramped together with a large blank area on the right.

A Crossing Block might not be planted if space cannot be found for it.

Seed Preparation

Same as for other Nurseries. Pay careful attention to the Source row # as a clue to the Source Nursery. Make very sure the correct year of the source is used.

INBREEDING NURSERY

Based primarily on the previous year's Inventory of the Maize Inbreeding Nursery. Use single row #'s. Reserved row#'s for this Nursery are 1-2999. Seedlist format matches Inbred records except only one Source row column should be shown on the print out where possible. Two columns are acceptable if there is not enough seed and seed from 2 years previous is used instead. The rule is to keep the number of columns small so that errors are not made by reading the wrong column. Add additional source row columns where necessary but print them only where these columns are used. Note that the breeder may also want a SEED REMARKS column.

Seed Prep

• 20 seeds per row. Can use manual count or rough and ready.

• Don't completely empty a Storage envelope. Keep some seed (about 5 seeds at least) in case there are planting problems or any other problem that may result in the loss of the row to be planted.\
• Write down or indicate on the Seedlist the source of seed if not enough seed was available and seed from a different source was used.

SIBBING NURSERY

Usually this Seedlist is based on the previous year's Inventory.

NOTE: There are seedlist formatting differences regarding Row#'s. The column(s) for Row#'s must be large enough to hand write four digit numbers on two sides of a dash.E.g. 7001 - 7010. The dash can be put in by computer. The breeder has prepared the seed for this Nursery himself. He will specify blocks of 5,10,15 or 20 rows. Update the computer when the Seed prep for this Nursery is finished.

Check that there are no overlapping numbers E.g. 7001-7010,7010-7015. Should be 7001-7010,7011-7015

Seed prep

The breeder has usually used a rough and ready count of around 40-50 seeds per row. The blocks of rows are of seed from the same storage envelope. Watch out for misplaced planting envelopes out of row# sequence in the small white trays. The breeder has to also be careful to fill only what he records and not fill envelopes from another group with seed from the previous group. Where there are doubts about the order of the envelopes and their contents, set out several pans to look at the seed in the envelopes just before and after a change of blocks. Put the filled numbered envelopes of seed in the pans. One envelope per pan. Put the pans in order according to the numbers on the envelopes. Pour out the seed from each numbered envelope into its pan and leave the numbered envelope in the same pan with its seed. Consult the Seedlist regarding where the blocks change and compare the seed in the pans. It may also be necessary to have two pans holding the storage envelopes and their seed as well. If there is no error, the seed in each block should be similar to the source block storage envelope seed. The change of blocks should be very apparent and also correspond to the Seedlist row#'s. I.e. If the first block is from 7001-7010, row 7010 should have seed similar to all of the previous rows and seed from row# 7011 should look different. Row 7011 should match the seed from the source block storage envelope for the next block of seed.

HAND CROSSING BLOCK

The seedlist for this crossing block can end up being revised several times. It is never closed until all the seed that the breeder wants to plant is in the ground. The entire hand crossing block may be planted by hand or just the straggler rows of seed received after machine planting. Seed is primarily inbreds and can be prepared ahead of time but often lots of additions are made later as space availability is better known. This seedlist can get tedious to make because there will be blocks of males where the male pedigree must be shown for each row of the block followed by a list of single row females and then paired rows where a different male may appear many times between different females. There is more moving of records around for this Crossing Block.

Miscellaneous Comment

In 1999, a first attempt was made without prior notice to select material for inclusion in Crossing Blocks using MS-Access. Microsoft Office was not offered to the company when the computer was purchased and the attempt to procure it at that time was beyond budget. Only Excel was purchased since the ability to update the pedigrees and to use the macros was more important. The database bundled with the computer was MS-Works. Inventory files were saved for each separate Nursery in Ms-Works database form. Selections were made previously from printed Inventory lists of separate Nurseries.

The attempt to use Access was a good idea but should have been done with more planning. As a result, the databases for the different Nuseries had to be merged and then Access had troubles due to formatting differences not only between Nurseries but also of columns as numbers or text. The Source Year and row number column for example, contains both text and numbers.

Inbreeding Nursery Edit

Inbreeding Nursery Seedlist Sample Page Edit

{C}

Inbreeding Nursery Sample Notebook Page

to be added

The usual column headings were Row, Family, Pedigree, Source Year Row Number (Source Year as column heading with that year's row number as the column entry), Vigor (Vig), Days to 50% Tassel (Tas), Days to 50% Silk (Slk), Ear Height (EarHt), Plant Height (PlantHt), Number of cobs collected (Cobs), Weight in grams of Bulk sample collected(Blk), Remarks (wide column).

A lot of the columns after the Source Year and row column were not used so that it seemed a bit useless to have them on the notebook page. At one time the plant height and ear height of inbreds was entered because it can be used in predicting the plant and ear heights of hybrids involving the inbred. Often this data wasn't used so Generic Seeds abandoned the collection of this data partly to alleviate the workload.

a list of one could collect data on that could be used as column headings.

Uniform Evaluation Tests - Corn Inbred Lines

Characters Evaluated

Agronomic characters Unit of measure

Planting to 50% Silk (Silk) days

Planting to 50% Pollen (Tassel) days

Height of plant cm

Height of ear cm

Plant : Ear Height Ratio no.

Tassel Primary Branches no.

Root lodging %

Stalk lodging %

Root pulling strength kg

Root Strength rating grade 1-9

Stalk Quality

Crushing strength kg

Rind Thickness cm

Wt. 2" section gm

Cob quality

Crushing strength lbs

Weight 2" Section gm

Yield (grain) kg/ha

Shelling % %

Ears per plant no.

Planting to maturity (Physiological) days

Grain Moisture at Harvest %

Dropped Ears %

Ear

Ear Length cm

Kernel

1000 Kernel weight gm

Test weight kg

Row No. no.

Husk covering grade 1-5*

Leaf Attitude grade 1-3**

• 1 - Good **1 - Upright

 5 - Poor                                          2 - Intermediate

 3 - flat

Disease Reactions Unit of Measure

Leaf Blight

H. carbonum Race I R or S

H. maydis

Race O grade 1-5

Race T grade 1-5

H. turcicum grade 1-5

Phyllostica (Yellow leaf blight) grade 1-5

Kabatiella zeae (Eyespot) grade 1-5

Stalk Rot diplodia

Internode Intensity grade 1-5

Vertical Spread no. nodes

Stalk Rot Gibberella

Internode Intensity grade 1-5

Vertical Spread no. nodes

Ear Rot grade 1-5

Kernel Rot grade 1-5

Smut %

Maize Dwarf Mosaic grade 1-9

Downy Mildew % infected plants

Rust %

Insect Reactions

Aphids grade1-5

Corn Earworm grade 1-5

European Corn Borer

1st Brood grade 1-9

2nd Brood no. larvae/plt (plant,shank,stalk)

Corn Rootworm

Northern grade 1-9

Root Damage grade 1-3

Root Regeneration grade 1-5

Western

Root Damage grade 1-9

Recovery grade 1-9

Tolerance grade 1-9

Chemical Analyses

Oil (Grain)

Quantity %

SOURCE: North regional Research Publication No. 213

Report of Uniform Evaluation Tests - Corn Inbred Lines

Sponsored by North Central Corn Breeding Research Committee NCR-2

Summarized by Lee Mason and M.S. Zuber

Unknown date of publication (Data of Uniform Evaluation Tests 1970-1971)

Inbreeding Nursery Innoculation Edit

A practice that was abandoned was that of innoculating the plants by striking the stalks with a nail sticking out from a stick. The purpose of this was to injure the plant and make it more susceptible to disease. It is also possible to induce diseases in the plants by soaking pipe cleaners in a solution containing a disease and inserting the pipe cleaners into the holes made by the nail. Dr. Jugenheimer has some pictures of innoculators and a few more details about this in his various editions.

Selfing Edit

Equipment

• Pollination Pouches
• Black China Markers (cut in half) also known as grease pencils
• Lawson Bags #218 Shootbags (Earbags )
• Lawson Bags #402 Tassel Bags
• Plier type Staplers
• Staples (1/4" mostly and 3/8" occasionally)
• small knife

Clothing Edit

Avoid sunburns and heatstroke by dressing appropriately. Wear a hat of some type possibly with protection for the neck from sunburn. Straw hats work well. Baseball caps can leave one with a very red neck.

Water Edit

Don't get dehydrated. Take water to the field. Don't take ice water. The water can be cool but not cold. Don't drink too much water.

Pollination Aprons Edit

Must hold all of the equipment listed above. {C}A deep pouch for the #402 Tassel bags (on the left side) that must be deep and wide enough to hold a notebook(10x 12?). {C}A Shallow pouch for the #218 earbags (on the right side)(6 inches deep?) {C}A shallow pouch in the middle for a box of staples, 2 China markers ( in case one is lost) and the small knife. {C}A holster for the staple gun that is easily reached with one hand. My staple gun was always falling out of the shallow pouch and was hard to get to in the deep pouch.

The pollinating apron is best made from a tough material like Denim with tough thread. {C}Automobile seatbelts make a very easy to attach belt that can be adjusted for a person's size.

Some workers use a vest type of garment rather than an apron.

Also see the You Tube videos "Corn Crossing Tools" and Pollination Methods: Corn

NOTE: In the YouTube video, Pollination Methods: Corn, the tassel bags are marked with a vertical designation with the female genotype listed first on the top. This is contrary to the method used by Big Yellow Seeds in which the row number of the pollen source (male) is marked on the top and the female row number is usually not marked on the crossingbag/tassel bag unless the cross is done outside of a designated crossing block such as in the Inbreeding Nursery. If the row number of the female plant is put on the crossing bag/tassel bag it is placed below the row number of the pollen source and below an 'x' or a line. The female row number is usually obtained from the row tag placed in a harvest bag of cobs harvested from the row since the crossing blocks have been designed so that all crosses made in a row are the same. The pedigrees/genotypes are obtained from the row numbers after harvest. I have referred to crossing bags/tassel bags because when a cross is made outside a crossing block, such as in the inbreeding nursery, a specially marked bag (crossing bag) is used to distinguish the cross from selfed plants. Crossing bags usually have a very easy to see diagonally striped border on them whereas the tassel bags are blank.

China Markers Edit

Cut them in half and give each person two china markers. The one half is harder to peel but smaller china markers are easier to use than full length markers

Marking the date on the Tassel bags Edit

Put the tassel bags in the deep pouch with the open end near the bottom and the seams away from you. Bend the tops of the bags over (away from you) and mark the day of the month on the upper right corner of the first bag. Flip through the bags one at a time using the thumb and mark each bag until all of them are marked.

Generic Seeds did almost all of it's pollination work between about the second week of July and the first week of August, so there wasn't confusion when just using the day of the month. Other researchers have longer pollination periods and need to distinguish June 7, from August 7 or even September 7, so they may use a binary or other type of marking system. See the maizegdb website Controlled Pollinations of Maize, Section 6, "Dating the Tassel Bags".

Staplers Edit

NEED TO BE DURABLE (preferably metal) and WORK IN A DUSTY, DIRTY ENVIRONMENT The mechanism should be simple so it's easily fixed if jammed with dirt or pollen

Shoot bags/Earbags Edit

Shootbagging procedures in the Inbreeding Nursery

When to shootbag/earbag (time of year,maturity of plant,growth of earshoots,time of day)

When to earbag depends on the maturity of the plant. In the local area, most plants are starting to make earshoots in the second week of July. You just have to periodically make checks for earshoots from the start of July.

Early morning isn't good for earbagging because everyone ends up getting drenched with water from the plants as they move through the field. Evening is best or anytime that pollinations are not being done.

Where to shootbag/earbag (top earshoot)

You want to get the top earshoot of the plant. It will appear as a small triangle between leaf and stalk where the leaf attaches to the stalk. Wait until it is a good 1/2 inch or more long before earbagging it.

Sometimes the second earshoot from the top grows first, so check before knocking off the leaf.

(The practice of knocking off the leaf limits the ability of the plant to use the leaf for photosynthesis, so this isn't considered a best practice and in the Maize GDB video you will see that the shootbag/earbag is placed without removing the leaf.)

Creasing the shootbag/earbags and expanding the creased sides

The shootbag/earbags have one side longer than the other. Put the long side in front with the short side closest to you with the opening at the bottom. Using the forefingers and thumbs, bend the long side up so it is even with the short side and crease it. Then using the forefingers inserted up into the bag, flatten the side creases so the bag is recrangular. Blowing into the bag will also work.

Knock off the leaf with a sharp downward motion of the hand.

The doubled side of the earbag is then placed against the stalk with the earshoot between the doubled side and the short side. Then pull straight down over the earshoot, cutting into the stalk just a bit.

Putting the shootbag/earbags over the earshoot

Forefinger up as far as possible along the inside of each side with thumbs on the side outside the bag. Pull straight down over the earshoot and into the stalk maybe a half inch or so. It should not be tight against the stalk. Lift it up a bit if it is. The shootbag needs to rise with the cob as the cob grows longer and not be snagged on the cut of the stalk.

Problems with droopy shootbag/earbags

The reason for flattening out the side creases is because when the crease is there, the sides do not prevent the bag from drooping and the earshoot often will tear the shootbag at the droop and grow through the shootbag.

Pollinations Edit

Marking the date on the Tassel bags {C}As above

Pollinations (SELFING) in the Inbreeding Nursery are made by collecting pollen from the tassel of a single plant and applying that pollen to the silks of the earbagged top earshoot of the same plant. The exact same tassel bag that was used to collect the pollen is then slid over the pollinated ear. Give the tassel bag a sharp snap holding each end to help the pollination by spreading pollen inside that sticks to the bag.

When to make pollinations

The silk should be like a good small paint brush and about 2 inches long or so.

Also, there needs to be enough pollen. If you can see the pollen in the bag ,that is actually far more than needed. It should be yellow. {C}Polination is best made after about 10:00 a.m. and before 1:00 p.m.

When to start pollinations each day

Usually around 9:00 or 10:00. Tap an inbred tassel across the palm of the hand. If pollen appears on the hand, pollination of the nursery can start.

When to end pollinations each day

Pollen is adversely affected by heat. It is best to stop pollinating after 2:00 p.m or 3:00 p.m.

Contamination issues in the Inbreeding Nursery

In general (outbreeding, tassel bags not put on tassels)

A risk is taken by the breeder by not placing tassel bags over the tassels and by not being strict about sterilizing pollen on hands after pollinating an inbred.

This risk is considered acceptable since any outcrosses produced are hybrids that are easily distinguished by their higher height in the inbred field and can be cut out of the field.

use of hands

Get into a habit of using one hand for shaking the tassel and the other for trimming silks and helping apply the pollen to the silks. The thumbnail of the uncontaminated hand can be used to trim the silks so they are only about two inches long. The same hand can encircle the cob without touching it and the applicator spout can be tapped against the inside of the thumb so that pollen falls on the silks.

jostling plants nearby

When working around an inbred be very careful not to jostle a nearby plant as this may result in the plant shedding pollen that blows in the wind and can contaminate exposed silks.

Not enough pollen (contaminated bag )

If the tassel is shaken for pollen but there is not enough pollen to make a pollination or the silk is not yet ready to be pollinated, the bag is considered contaminated. Shake it out onto the ground and place it upside down inside the long pouch but on the side closest to you where it will not be picked out.

Contaminated bags are collected together and used the next day or the day after.

Making Pollinations Edit

Stand to one side and in front of the plant. Grab the plant with one hand below the base of the tassel or at the base of the tassel. Carefully bend the tassel into the tassel bag that is being held with your other hand in front of the plant. The bend should be wide rather than sharp and involve part of the plant below the tassel. You don't want to break the tassel off because if there is not enough pollen, a broken tassel can't be used to make a second try. Shake the tassel vigourously against the sides of the tassel bag. Five or six times should be lots.

How to carry the tassel bag

Don't let pollen fall into the bag while searching for a plant to pollinate. Carry it by placing it over a fist without pollen on it and holding the forearm up at a right angle to the bicep.

Creating a pollen applicator from the tassel bag

First, pull up on the top side and down on the bottom side (with the seam) at the same time. Make a crease on the bottom side. Then fold the topside from about the middle to make a handle with only a small opening near the bottom.

If the amount of pollen is small, gently tap the bag until you can see pollen in the bottom crease and slowly tilt the bag and tap the pollen closer to the opening.

A video and a do-it-yourself exercise might better explain what is being talked about here.

Missed first ears

Try very hard to earbag and pollinate the first ear. However, if the first ear is missed, earbag the second ear and later at pollination time, tear the first ear off the plant and pollinate the second ear.

Stapling the tassel bags

The bags are stapled by bringing the two corners of the bottom back side together around the stalk and stapling near the bottom. Don't staple the bag tightly to the stalk but allow some room for growth.

If the cob is long, staple the tassel bag on the bottom edges near the cob but not tightly to the cob. Staple also farther from the cob, near the edges of the tassel bag in case the first pair of staples is too close.

Adjusting bags for growth

After pollination, periodically check for cobs trying to grow out of a bag or bags that have popped their staples or are too tight. The bag can be pulled up and down the stalk as needed.

• Watch for possible contamination problems after tassel bag is put on

• Watch for bags with holes chewed into them by bugs that have allowed the silks to be contaminated. These cobs must be discarded immediately.

• Some good pictures related to maize pollination may be found as part of the genetic research activity, 'Plant Breeding and Predicting Offspring Traits' By Patty Hain - croptechnology.unl.edu at

http://agbiosafety.unl.edu/breeding_lesson.shtml

There are good pictures there of the tassel bags, ear shoot bags, tassel bags over the tassels and ear shoot bags over the ear shoots.

• There is a website with video clips of pollination procedures (http://www.maizegdb.org/IMP/WEB/pollen.htm). You will see immediately that there are some major differences in the procedures.
• There are also some videos on You Tube Corn Pollination Methods
• Corn Pollen that explains about putting up and taking down #402 Tassel bags and
• Corn Shoot Bags that explains about putting shoot bags on the new ear shoots.
• Sweet Corn Pollination procedures
• A good reference regarding hybridization procedures is Corn by Drs. Hallauer and Russel [2]

{C}Some of the differences in the procedures are due to differences in the perception of risk of contamination. A University researcher is usually doing work in genetics that can’t tolerate any risk of contamination at all. Not bagging the inbred tassels saves time and money and the risk of contamination is small and contamination is easily detected. In the SIB nursery bagging tassels might be a good idea.

You may want to adopt some of the maizegdb.org procedures, but think carefully before doing so. Tearing the earbag top off is fine if there is no doubt that there is enough silk to pollinate. Pulling the earbag off instead, allows one to put it back on if there is a problem. One must also be very careful about bending the inbreds as they are often brittle and will snap off if bent from behind.

An oddity I noticed about Generic Seeds was that tassel bags were never placed over the tassels the day before pollinations in any of the nurseries. One should think this increased the chances of contamination and yet there didn't appear to be any contamination in the Sibbing Nursery.

Be wary of letting an advanced degree go to your head. One can deceive oneself into believing one can handle certain risks which blow up into major errors.

A researcher with a Ph.D. who did studies as a student on proper distances to avoid contamination from foreign pollen, contaminated his own breeder's seed field of a new cultivar by planting other maize within twenty feet. This error caused foundation seed growers a lot of unanticipated expense roguing offtypes from the fields. The plant breeder may have thought he could handle the extreme closeness, believing that the cultivar would pollinate at a different time than the other maize. Never gamble with mother nature!

Another faux pas not immune to certification or advanced degrees is planting evaluation trials in a low part of a field which has poor surface and/or poor subsurface drainage. There is a reason the agricultural producer is only too glad to part with this nuisance area and get rent money for it at the same time.

Inbreeding Nursery Harvest Work Edit

OUTLINE

• Preliminary work
• Tagging rows
• Creation of tags
• Harvest of selfed cobs
• Harvest of Sib cobs
• Harvest of crossed cobs
• Collecting cobs in harvest bags
• Shelling
• Data Entry
• Pedigree creation
• Labels
• Shipping and Storage
• Fall Tillage Field Work

{C}Inbreeding Nursery Harvest work

In the Field

Preliminary

Tag the first plant in all rows with consecutively numbered heavy construction paper stapled around the stalk. The tags should be of a designated colour for the inbreeding nursery to make it easier to identify inbred ears when removing material from the drying cupboard. Light blue shows up very well in the red mesh bags as does yellow. Whatever colour is chosen, don't change the colour from year to year.

The tags can be numbered on one end using a self advancing stamper. It is better to staple the tags loosely than tightly because the tagging may be done prior to harvest before the plant has stopped growing.

Don't staple the tags around the tassel because the tassel may break off.

The cobs from each inbred row will be harvested with the desired pollination dates from the pollination bags and placed at the front of their row. The cobs at the front of each row are collected and put into red mesh bags with the row number tag which is torn from the stalk of the first plant in that row. If necessary, if a cob and its pollination date information is to be kept separate, it is put into a second red mesh bag that is then put into the first red mesh bag that contains the row number and all of the other cobs from that row. Usually all the cobs are put in one red mesh bag with only one pollination date kept that is usually the average or the earliest date.

The bags from each range are then collected going across the range preferably in order and tied in bundles of ten or more. Twist the bags and their opening strings into a tight cord before tying them to prevent problems with knots and fraying.

The bundles are then brought to one side of the range where they are collected by someone going up the side.

In addition to the row number tags and cobs from each row, information regarding the dates of pollination may be wanted for individual cobs or an average date for the row. This will be on each pollination bag on the upper left corner.

Harvesting

Harvesters will find that tearing open the tassel bag from the back above the stapled corners and then removing the ear is easier than tearing the bag and ear off the stalk together and pulling the ear from the bag. This method also allows the ear to be left on the stalk for comparison with other ears in the row and leaves the bag on the stalk so it is not littering the Nursery.

Collected ears should be placed at the front of the row for collection preferably on top of a pollination bag representing an average pollination date so that the cobs are more easily seen. If information is wanted on pollination dates,the corners can be torn off the pollination bags or the cobs can be placed on top of their original pollination bags at the front of the row.

NOTE: Some workers just roll up the bag around the cob. Generic Seeds does not do this. The bags could potentially carry molds/fungi/pathogens or catch fire in the drying cupboard or require a higher heat to dry the cob.

Bagging

Basically, all the cobs from a row are put into a red mesh bag together with the row tag from the first stalk of that row and a sample pollination date from the row that is an average pollination date or between the earliest and the latest dates. Sometimes, it may be desired to keep some cobs separate by putting them in individual red mesh bags and then putting these bags into the red mesh bag that contains all the other cobs and the row number tag.

Collecting

The bags from a range are collected in groups of ten and tied together. The best way to avoid tangling and other problems is to hold all of the bags with one hand so the draw strings are all taut and then spin the bags together until the strings form a tight rope. Grab the lowest part of the rope and wrap the rope around at least two fingers, then draw a loop through the circle and tighten the knot,leaving one end to be pulled to loosen the knot.

Carry all the bags from each range to one side of the field and then collect all the bags from all the ranges in the back of a pickup truck.

Finishing the field harvest

After all of the selfs and misc. crosses in the Inbred Nursery have been harvested and stored, ready to be dried, the field is left alone while the other Nurseries are harvested. This gives some of the late varieties a good chance to dry down to near 24% moisture or so. This is just a ballpark figure.

Pollination work trash (bags)

Usually, all of the tassel bags and earbags are removed from the ground and the stalks and brought to places in the Nursery or to the side where they are burnt. Usually the bags have been burnt in the front headland rows. Consideration must be given to where the burning is done, as it can enhance fertility at that spot the next year. The bags are biodegradeable so they could be tilled into the soil with the stalks and leaves but what usually has happenned is that they were blown all over the place and made the farm look littered.

Combine work

After all the earbags and tasselbags have been disposed of, a combine is brought in and the entire Inbred Nursery is harvested with the combine and the seed is sold to a local feedlot for cattle feed.

(Note: If modern genetic engineering was involved, the practice of selling the seed for feed would probably not be allowed or there would be restrictions of some type regarding the disposal of plants and seeds etc.)

{C}Trash (Organic)

Next, a field mower (or a chain flail) is run across the field to chop up the stalks and leaves. This helps with the field work as well as helps to compost the organic material so it can make new soil. Try to spread the trash evenly.

Fall Field Work

Usually, a disk harrow has been used after harvest to chop up the stalks and prepare the field for spring. This is usually adequate for the Inbreeding Nursery because the plant population is thin and the plants are small.

With yields of 150 bushels per acre or more in the Maize Yield Trial areas, one is almost forced to use a moldboard plow to bury the organic material and get it decomposing to make more soil.

Shelling the Inbreeding Nursery Edit

The inbreds are taken from the dryer or storage area and brought to the shelling area. It's best to sort the bags by 100's then tens, lining them up in sequential order and starting the shelling with row#1 and proceeding in sequential order. This is not always feasible but it can prevent some problems with misalignment of data when entering one row of data on a page.

For each row harvested, all of the selfed cobs from the row are placed in a square metal pan of about 23 cm x 23 cm x 5 cm that has sharp 90 degree corners. Be watchful for the odd misc cross in with the selfed material. Do the crosses later. It is basically a square cake pan. For each cob, an envelope is created with the row # printed at the top left corner, the year at the top right and in the center a dash and the number of the cob. The cobs are sorted from best to worse, shelled in order and the seed from each cob placed in its appropriate envelope. It is important that the row # on the envelope for all the cobs from the same row is the same. There is a temptation to start counting and write down the next row number when making more than one envelope for a row.

The shelling is usually done by hand. The butt kernels at the bottom of the cob are usually shelled first and then a row of kernels is shelled upwards to about halfway up the cob and then the cob is tightly gripped and twisted to shell kernels around the cob. {C}If the kernels are tight, shelling upwards using the tip of the thumb pushing downwards is easiest. {C}The kernels are shelled into a wooden framed tray with a metal screen bottom. The chaff and silks will fall through the screen leaving the kernels which are poured into the proper envelope.

Notes regarding how easily the cobs shelled might be wanted for some inbreds.

There is a cob sheller in the room but it is usually used only for large samples such as from the Isolated Populations.

The sheller is made of metal and looks like a meat grinder. The basic shape is like a funnel with a handle attached on the side to a circular plate with knobby teeth. The unshelled cob is put in at the top and the handle is turned forcing the cob to press against the knobby teeth which remove the kernels and the shelled cob falls out the bottom where it is caught with the seed on the metal screened tray. The cob is removed and thrown in a garbage barrel. The tray is shaken back and forth a bit to remove debris, and the seed is placed in a storage envelope.

Sometimes it is hard to open the harvest bags because the draw strings have frayed, the knot is too tight, etc. An old metallic staple remover that is like a flat finger has worked well to get in under the strings and pry out the knot.

Sample processing of maize genetic resources

Inbreeding Nursery

Inventory Edit

Data Processing

{C}At the present time, the data processing to create the labels for all of the new seed harvested is being done after the seed is shelled and placed in packages labeled with markers. One day this could be done all at once at the time of shelling.

The sheller gives the data processing department the Inbreeding Nursery Notebook that she has added comments to and filled out the #COBS column stating the number of cobs shelled for each row.

While it would be nice to have all the comments on the plants and the seed put into the computer, the top priority must be to get the #COBS column data into the computer and get the labels printed and placed on the seed packets.

The first step is to make sure the printed notebook version matches the computer version. The printed notebook version is given greater authority than the computer version. Any corrections in pen to the printed notebook should be added to the computer version. Check some random rows throughout the computer version to make sure that at least the row#, pedigree and source row data match the printed notebook.

To prepare for entering the data from the #COBS column, write a 0 in any blank cells in the #COBS column. This will help in keeping the data aligned so that the correct #COBS column value is in the correct row. {C}Enter the #COBS column data starting with the first row of the Inbreeding Nursery and move down the column to the last row of the Inbreeding Nursery.

Once all the #COBS column data is added to the computer version of the notebook, a preliminary Inventory to be called the #COBS Inventory can be printed out to be used by the breeder until the labels and pedigrees for all inbred seed is created in the next step. The #COBS Inventory simply is an Inventory of the number of cobs collected from each row. Note that until all seed labels are placed later, the #COBS Inventory is only tentatively correct. The #COBS Inventory can be used by the breeder to see what inbreds were not collected and how much seed is available for immediate shipping to others. It can also be used to make fast labels for seed being shipped immediately.

INBREEDING NURSERY INVENTORY of HARVESTED SEED

Creating Pedigrees Edit

The seed that is shelled from each cob harvested from the Inbreeding Nursery must be placed in an envelope and labeled with a unique pedigree that is printed on a label and put on the envelope.

The pedigree for each row in the Seedlist/Notebook is for the seed that was planted in the row in the spring. New pedigrees must be created for the seed shelled from each cob collected from each row in the fall. These new pedigrees are printed on self adhesive labels and put on the proper envelope containing the seed. The method of creating the pedigrees for labelling each envelope of seed is referred to in these notes as the "dash n method" because a dash and the number of the harvested cob is added to the end of the pedigree that appears in the Seedlist/Notebook. This system is basically a variation of the Jacoby system in genealogy. Each envelope of newly harvested seed will have a row#, year and -n cob number written in marker on it. This helps with placing the labels on the correct envelope and can be used until the full pedigree labels are printed and placed on the envelopes.

While the data for the inbreds is best kept in database format, most databases do not have the features needed to create/update the pedigrees using the "dash n method".Access may have that ability.

The "dash n" method being used to create/update the pedigrees involves the use of macros created in an EXCEL spreadsheet on a copy of a list version of the database. Each record is shown in a separate row with the field names heading each column. Once the pedigrees are updated, the new list of harvested seed pedigrees can be added to the Seed Room Inventory Database with a simple conversion from spreadsheet list to database records.

The term "Seed Room Inventory Database" is being used here to refer either to a single database of all the seed being kept in the seed storage room, or to all of the Inventory lists for each Nursery for each year. Prior to 2000, the seed stored in the Seed Room was accounted for by Inventory lists for each Nursery. These lists were created as spreadsheet lists and converted to database form for making the labels.

DASH n method

The "dash n" name comes from the procedure of adding a dash and the number of the cob harvested from a row to the pedigree of the seed that was planted in the row. For each row with n cobs harvested, there will be -n pedigrees to be created for the new seed from the n cobs.

INVENTORY of COBS HARVESTED

Row	Pedigree of planted seed	Number of Cobs Harvested
1	COBB-8-3-1-1	3
2	COBB-8-3-1-2	2

PEDIGREE of SEED taken from COBS HARVESTED

Row	Cob #	Pedigree to put on seed envelope	Source(row#)
1	COB#1	COBB-8-3-1-1-1 (added -1 to end)	1
1	COB#2	COBB-8-3-1-1-2 (added -2 to end)	1
1	COB#3	COBB-8-3-1-1-3 (added -3 to end)	1
2	COB#1	COBB-8-3-1-2-1 (added -1 to end)	2
2	COB#2	COBB-8-3-1-2-2 (added -2 to end)	2

Note that the row # from which the cob was harvested is now referred to as the SOURCE row of the seed.

The "Dash n" method may not be the best way to store data on the generations of selfing of plants but it works.

The "dash n method" does cause a lot of problems from the computer data storage point of view but it is preferred by the breeder over the version without use of the dash. The dash makes it easier to read the pedigree and determine the number of numbers (generations) in the pedigee.

E.g. COBB8311 is easier to read as COBB-8-3-1-1.

The mixing of text and numbers in the pedigree is the largest source of trouble for computer work. A sort will place numbers beginning with 1 such as 10,11,12, etc. before 2 which is then followed by 20 to 29 rather than 3 because the numbers are regarded by the computer as text when they are mixed with letters. {C}It might be preferable to not alter the copy of seedlist/notebook data at all but use it and the #COBS value to create a separate list as a new file in a completely different folder. This list would be used to print out the labels for the seed packets and added to the SEEDROOM INVENTORY DATABASE.

{C}General macro procedure

IDEAL MACRO

The ideal macro would locate the #COBS column, evaluate the numerical content of the cell in that column starting with the first row, and call the corresponding subroutine macro. The subroutine macro would locate the important columns in the same row such as ROW and PEDIGREE, copy the data of the columns in that row to a new location, alter the pedigrees appropriately for each cob shelled and move to the next #COBS column number in the row beneath.When a cell was reached with no value, such as at the end of the list, the macro would end or alert someone to a possible problem.

At the present time, pedigrees are printed in the notebooks in full to facilitate sorting and extraction procedures, however, the breeder prefers a skeleton system in which redundant pedigree data is NOT printed.

Skeleton Pedigrees (unfinished - In Col. 2 cells need to be padded with spaces not underscore and properly aligned.)

Row	Skeleton Pedigree	Full Pedigree
1	Cobb-8-3-1-1	Cobb-8-3-1-1
2	__________2	Cobb-8-3-1-2
3	_____9-1-1-1	Cobb-9-1-1-1
4	_______2-2-1	Cobb-9-2-2-1
5	__________3	Cobb-9-2-2-3
6	Holden-1-1-1-1	Holden-1-1-1-1

In the SKELETON SYSTEM the first instance of the pedigree is printed in full. Subsequent pedigrees with redundant data show only data from the first point of changes to the pedigree.

An Excel Macro (Not yet available: the 'Label records' macro below contains some of the desired elements but is incomplete and inefficient)

The macro below creates the new records to the right of 4 columns/fields holding the relevant information which is pulled from the Notebook spreadsheet or a database file.

Label records Macro

Option Explicit

Sub LabelList()

Dim MyRange As Range

Dim QTY As Integer

Dim rnganchor As Integer

Dim row As Integer

Dim Cell As Range

Set MyRange = Application.InputBox _

(Prompt:="Select the INPUT range", Title:="SELECT INPUT RANGE", Type:=8)

MyRange.Select

rnganchor = 2

'MsgBox ("Range Anchor is: " & rnganchor)

Range("E2").Select

For Each Cell In MyRange

QTY = ActiveCell.Value

For row = rnganchor To rnganchor + QTY - 1

ActiveCell.Offset(0, -4).Range("A1:B1").Copy Destination:=Range(Cells(rnganchor, 8), Cells(rnganchor + QTY - 1, 9))

Application.CutCopyMode = False

ActiveCell.Offset(0, -1).Range("A1").Copy Destination:=Range(Cells(rnganchor, 11), Cells(rnganchor + QTY - 1, 11))

Application.CutCopyMode = False

Cells(row, 10).Value = Cells(ActiveCell.row, ActiveCell.Column - 2).Value & "-" & row - (rnganchor - 1)

Next row

rnganchor = rnganchor + QTY

ActiveCell.Offset(1, 0).Select

'MsgBox ("Range Anchor is: " & rnganchor)

Next Cell

Worksheets("NextGeneration").Columns("H:K").AutoFit

End Sub

Private Sub CommandButton1_Click()

End Sub

Macro for erase button {C}Sub Button5_Click() {C}Range("H2:K25").Select {C}Range("H2:K25").Clear {C}Range("A7").Select {C}End Sub

Using Microsoft Excel functions

The pedigree string can be parsed using the dashes as delimiters so that the pedigree string is split into separate columns for each part that is separated by a dash. The first column will contain the letters and numbers to the left of the first dash. The subsequent columns will contain the numbers after each dash and be converted to numerical values rather than text.

This is done using the TexttoColumn, Find, Left, Right and Mid functions in formulas.

See Mr. Excel episodes 157 to 162.

Episode 157: Breaking Apart a Column[3]

Episode 158: MID() function

Episode 159: Get characters up to a dash

Episode 160: Get characters after the dash

Episode 161: Get characters after the second dash

Episode 162: TextToColumn function

A Manual Method of Creating the New Inbred Pedigrees {C}1. Place the cursor on the first number in the first row of the #COBS column. For each #COB column number value a macro will be created and assigned a shortcut key. Whenever a particular number appears in the #COBS column, the corresponding macro is executed by pressing the appropriate shortcut key. Each macro inserts the necessary number of new rows into the spreadsheet list and places the proper pedigree for each cob on the proper new row.

For each cob from a row, the macro will insert a row or rows and alter the pedigree for that particular row accordingly. {C}For #COBS = 0 , the macro only has to move the cursor down to the next row and be ready to read the next #COBS value. This is because no cobs were harvested and there is no seed and therefore no label is needed for an envelope of seed. The cursor can be moved down one row manually by pressing the cursor down key or by creating a macro to do so and assigning the macro to a shortcut key.

For #COBS = 1 , the macro must locate the Pedigree field in the same row as the #COBS value and add a dash and a 1 to the end of the pedigree. Then the cursor must return to the #COBS column, move down one row and be ready to read the next #COBS value. A macro can be created and assigned to the "A" key. Each time the number one appears in the #COBS column press the keys that activate the "A" key macro such as 'CTRL-A'. The key can be labeled with the number 1 using masking tape so what the key is for is not forgotten.

For #COBS = 2, the macro inserts 1 row beneath the row containing the #COB value. Then the macro copies the row#, family, pedigree,Source row etc. info from the row above the blank row and places that data in the new row. The macro moves back up to the row above and adds -1 to the pedigree. The macro next alters the pedigree in the row below by adding -2 to the pedigree. The cursor then moves over to the right and down one row to the next #COBS value in the list. A macro named "TWO" can be recorded and assigned to the 'S' key. {C}The macro for #COBS = 3 and other higher numbers is very similar. Insert n-1 rows (E.g. For n=3, 3-1=2 rows to insert), copy the info from the same row as the #COB number to the blank inserted rows, alter the pedigree of each row until "-n". Move back to #COBS column and move down one row.

Use of this set of macros then, involves going down the #COBS column pressing the appropriate shortcut key for each #COBS column value. It is easy if the shortcut keys are beside each other. E.g. A=1,S=2,D=3.F=4,G=5,H=6,J=7,K=8 etc. {C}Until the method is fully automated and can recognize #COBS column number values itself, one can put the value on a piece of masking tape and put it on the appropriate key making memorization unecessary.

Make macros for 1 to 12 at least. Macros for #COBS > 12 can be created on the spot by executing the highest value macro and then adding manually as many more rows as needed.

A POSSIBLE SHORTCUT

A possible shortcut is to first do the macro for #COBS=1 all at once on all rows rather than for each row as the number 1 occurs. This makes assigning a shortcut key such as "A" to a macro for #COBS=1 unecessary. Instead, the "A" key can be assigned to a macro that moves the cursor down one row as for #COBS=0. When the #COBS column value = 0 or 1 , press the "A" key.

After all pedigrees are altered by adding "-1", one begins in the #COBS column from the first row, executing the proper macro for each #COB value as it appears highlighted by the cursor as it moves down the list. {C}Addition of "-1" already to the pedigrees means that for rows with #COBS = 1, the pedigree for the harvested seed is now correct and the macro to be used when #COBS=1 just moves the cursor down to the next row.

First cob shortcut macro

Create a macro that adds "-1" (a dash and the number 1 with no parentheses) to the end of all pedigrees in the seedlist/notebook file. The macro should be cyclical and not stop until all the pedigrees have had "-1" added to them. "-1" must be recognized as dash 1 and not minus one. The macro will add "-1" to the end of each pedigree and then move down one cell to the next pedigree. Various ways can be used to make the macro cyclical (repetitious). Holding the key assigned to the macro down is a simple way used in Excel. In VP-Planner a circular reference to a cell containing the macro label results in a macro that does not stop until CTRL-Break is pressed. The macro in VP-Planner used the F2 key to enter the cell, then -1 was added and the cursor moved down one cell. In Excel one can use the Concatenate function but may need more columns to hold preliminary results. Excel also uses the F2 key to enter cells but there was a problem figuring out how to do so in a macro. It may be possible to use the F2 key in a macro the same way as used in VP-Planner.

If the First cob shortcut is used, no macro needs to be created for #COB column number values of 0 and 1 except a null macro that merely moves the cursor down one row. A value of 0 means no cobs were harvested so AFTER pedigrees are created for seed labels, the rows with #COB numbers of 0 can be sorted out as a group and deleted.

It might be wise however to keep the Inventory list of COBS harvested including rows for which no cobs were harvested. It can be handy to know which rows were not harvested. The COB INVENTORY can also be used by the breeder for labelling and shipping seed until all of the labels are printed and placed on the appropriate envelopes.

If using Excel it is recommended not to sort until after pedigrees are created to avoid any possible problems with data misalignment as a result of an incorrectly assigned sort. Excel uses a handy but DANGEROUS assumption that if an entire area is not selected, then it is to sort data from its present position to blank rows above and below and blank columns on each side. Unless properly selected, Excel will not sort data in one column together with other data in the same row if there is an empty column between. It may be possible to select from the Seedlist/Notebook database only records with #COBS value >0 and avoid having to sort #COBS = 0 records out of the list.

It is very important to check all the macros on a test sheet first before executing them on the copy of the Seedlist/Notebook. Errors are not flagged so a row that is deleted or altered by mistake will go unnoticed. {C}Be careful not to execute the First Cob Shortcut macro more than once on a cell or list.

Inbred Pedigrees

Creating pedigrees for BLENDS

A blend is a word to designate that the seed of different cobs in a row from the Inbreeding Nursery have been mixed together. It is contained in brackets after the dash. Blends are frowned on by breeders.

- (1-4) means seed of cobs 1,2,3 and 4 have been mixed together. {C}- (1,3) means seed of cobs 1 and 3 were mixed.

If the mix has more than 4 cobs it might as well be called a bulk and labeled -blk or -bk .

Placing labels on seed envelopes Edit

Most of this data pertains to the Inbreeding Nursery. {C}The format for labels on #6 envelopes is: {C}Year of harvest on upper right corner, row# on upper left corner and pedigree centered and a few lines from the top. Be sure to be consistent from year to year regarding the side the year of harvest is put on. You don't want to mistake a year for a row#. Since people read left to right, I prefer the row # to be on the left.

531 1995

Bantam-25-1-2-1-1

For the Inbreeding Nursery, if #2 coin envelopes are used, the label is put on sideways with the row number on the upper left corner, the pedigree centered a few lines below, and the year on the lower left corner.

531

Bantam-25-1-2-1-1

1995

Matching labels to envelopes Edit

The creation of the labels is quite simple if the row# and pedigree information is in a database. The format of the label is specified with fields and the program prints one label for each record in the database list. The real problem is matching the labels to the seed envelopes. Information in the Notebook may have been entered incorrectly or on the wrong line resulting in either too many envelopes for a variety or not enough. Double check that the computer data matches the Notebook and if necessary, compare questionable seed with the seed of nearby rows. If there is any doubt about the identity of seed it must be thrown out. The row # on the label and the last -n number of the pedigree should match the row # and -n number on the envelope.

If you find the Notebook and premarked envelope data is frequently incorrect, set up procedures at shelling time to prevent whatever the problem is.

Incorrectly marked envelopes

Sometimes when a person is marking the envelopes with a marker, they either start adding one to a row # or make two cob#'s the same.

E.g. 156, -1, 156, -2,157,-3,157,-4 or 156,-1,156,-2,156-2,156,-3. {C}One must be aware of this problem and be on the lookout for it. The best way to eliminate it might be to automate the process somehow.

Data entered incorrectly to the Notebook

E.g. If the problem is that data is being entered on the wrong line in the Notebook because rows are being shelled in no particular order and the blank space and small width of lines make following a line across a page from row # to the column for # of cobs difficult, (i.e. Row #5 is being done followed by row #32 and the person is not recording on the correct line for various reasons), consider putting in place a policy such as presorting the inbreds and shelling them in sequential order from row #1 to the end. This won't stop the entering of data on the wrong line after a gap of rows for which nothing was collected, but would be a start.

Data entered incorrectly to the computer

If the system is not automated, and the notebook data is entered manually into the computer, set up procedures to ensure that the Notebook data and the computer data match. A procedure that I used was to make sure that a value was entered in the notebook for every row. If no cobs were collected and the space in the #Cobs column was left blank, I filled it in with a zero. I did this for the entire nursery before entering the data to the computer.

Each row # then had a value and the data was entered by going straight down the #COBS column from top to bottom entering all numbers including zeros.This procedure prevented misalignment of the data caused by skipping rows and restarting when entering data to the computer, at the expense of entering zeros when no cobs were collected. One might also consider using scanning and character recognition.

Multiple rows with same pedigree

Another problem is multiple rows of the same pedigree. The envelopes may be marked with different row and cob #'s. Use only one row number and then sort the envelopes from best seed to worst and relabel them with consecutive cob #'s.

E.g. Row # 5 and row #6 have the exact same pedigree. Four cobs from Row # 5 and three cobs from row #6 were harvested. At shelling time, the cobs in each row were rated and the best cob given a cob # of -1. There are 7 cobs from the two rows to be resorted from -1 to -7. Row #5 will be used to designate all the cobs. The seed from the cobs from Row #6 will be compared to those from row #5 and sorted from best to worst among the seven cobs.

Be sure to update both the Notebook and computer files regarding this merge of rows 5 and 6.

Sib Nursery Edit

Notebook sample page

: picture to be added of Sib Nursery Notebook spreadsheet page

Sib Nursery Pollinations Edit

Flagging the blocks of material

With the SIB Nursery Notebook at hand, the first row of each block of material is marked with a flag made using a tassel bag,china marker and staples. This should be done starting from Row 1 and moving through the Nusery in sequential row #, range by range.

Always make sure that the rows specifying the block of material in the field matches the notebook. If a row doesn't look like it belongs in a block it should be cut down and not used. Make sure to record in the SIB Nursery Notebook any discrepancies between the field and notebook so that the two are the same.

Sometimes, when the seed is made up, a person might fill the wrong envelope with seed near the row# of the split between blocks of material so that the second row or second last row in a block might contain the wrong material. If this happens, chop out the row with the wrong material.

The flag is just a tassel bag turned sideways with a simple arrow pointing up drawn with a China Marker near the closed end of the bag and on only one side. The arrow should be drawn on the front side and not on the side with the seam.

The arrow means that all rows from the flagged row up to the next flagged row (but not including the next flagged row) are the same material.

NOTE: It is VITALLY IMPORTANT that the arrow be on only one side of the tassel bag and that the direction of increasing row number is past the flag and not before it. When traveling through a range in the direction of increasing row number as in the planting plan., all the arrows should be visible. If only the backs of flags can be seen and no arrows, the person is going the wrong way.

E.g. Rows 1-5 are B7312 material, Rows 6-10 are R8W material and Rows 11-20 are Tux material. Rows 1,6,and 11 are flagged.

Earbagging

Equipment:

• Pollination Apron/Pouch

1. 208 or longer Lawson Earbags.

Shootbagging/Earbagging is done much the same as for the other Nurseries although there may be more problems related to maturity differences of blocks of material.

The earbaggers can move through the ranges of material perpendicular to the direction of the rows of plants. Be careful not to break plants while walking through. Eye protection is a good idea too. A pair of safety glasses would be good.

The biggest problem is getting an earbag on the top earshoot. Often the second earshoot may appear before the first so one must carefully check to see if there is an earshoot forming above the visible one. It's better to bag a large earshoot near the top than the first small earshoot one sees. This requires some judgement so that the earshoot doesn't get missed before silking. Earbagging the second highest earshoot is preferable to having no earshoots bagged at all. {C}Some of the varieties have earshoots appearing over one's head so this can be difficult.

Also there may be problems with earshoots that appear fully silked before an earbag can be applied.

If there are only a few people available to do the earbagging and pollination of the nurseries, it's best to do the earbagging whenever pollination can't be done. Early morning is not recommended because you will be drenched by dew. Evening is best but it can also be done after pollinating in the late afternoon.If there are enough people, the earbagging can be done all day.

The SIB Nursery can be earbagged from the front of the Nursery to the back or from the back of the Nursery to the front and even from the middle either way. One doesn't need to worry much about the blocks for earbagging except when a block has enough earbags and can be skipped or has none and needs earbags.

Some blocks of material will be ready before others so one can skip some blocks going through each day but remember to keep checking them.

If the entire Nursery can't be completed in the time allowed, vary the starting point from one end of the field to the other and also from the middle either way. Keep track of early blocks so they don't get missed in the middle.

As the block starts to get more than a dozen earbags, start to get tougher regarding the plants to place earbags on.

Pollination

Equipment:

• SIB Nursery Notebook
• Pollination Aprons/Pouches
• small knife

1. 402 Tassel bags or longer

• staples
• staplers
• China Markers
• hat
• possibly safety glasses.

A person can get covered in a good layer of pollen in this Nursery so a hat and a long sleeve shirt is not a bad idea.

NOTE: This is NOT the Inbreeding Nursery

It isn't necessary to mark the tassel bags.

The material is not selfed but is crossed together as a block. The silks should be quite long when pollinated and they are not cut back. However, the silks must not be exposed or hang out of the tassel bag after being pollinated.

Before pollinating a block, make sure you know the exact limits of the block's first and last rows. When working backwards from the far end of the field to the front it is best to first, exactly identify the first and last rows of the block and then start from the flag moving in the direction of increasing row number for that block.

Pollinating within a block of material {C}Take pollen from a lot of good plants on one end and start pollinating at the other end. This helps to limit selfing. Collect the pollen as for the Inbreeding Nursery making a kind of pollen applicator and pollinate as many good plants as possible.As one goes along, more pollen can be taken from good plants and applied to the other side of the block or to plants that make a good match. Don't take pollen from a good plant before pollinating it but after.

Use one hand to hold the pollen applicator and the other to pull a tassel bag from the pouch and slide it down over the earshoot as soon as the pollen has been applied.

Staple the tassel bag to the stalk or on the sides of large ears.

The Sib Nursery has more plants and is more protected from wind than the Inbreeding Nursery so if necessary, the stapling can be left for another person or the bags left unstapled for a while. This makes things easier for applying pollen.

Sib Nursery Harvest Edit

The Sib Nursey is harvested one block of material at a time.

All pollinated cobs in the block with tassel bags covering them are collected and placed in the middle of the pathway at the front of the block and halfway between the first and last rows. The cobs are collected in a large orange mesh bag and a tag with the row# of the first row is placed in the bag.

The bags are left in the pathway to be picked up later by carrying all the bags for each range to one side where they are put into a pickup truck. Be very careful not to overlook a bag especially if there is a small block with few ears collected.

Creating Pedigrees for newly harvested Sib Nursery seed Edit

The seed from the Nursery will have been dried, shelled and put into large envelopes. Where more than one envelope is used, the seed will have been mixed well before being poured into the two envelopes. Each envelope has the first row# of the group and the year put on with a black permanent ink marker.

The Sib Nursery is assigned rows 7000 - 8999. These rows are reserved for Sib Nursery material every year to make association of those numbers with Sib Nursery material common. Material sibbed in the Inbreeding Nursery should not be with Sib Nursery material. Also a colour should be assigned to the Sib Nursery's harvest tags and not changed from year to year.

Check the notebook for any changes to the Sib Nursery row numbering, pedigrees etc. The notebook version is authoritative.

Ensure that the printed notebook and computer notebook version match.

The usual format for printing the Sib Nursery Notebook has been to put the information regarding a group (such as pedigree and source row) on the first row number of the group and leave the other rows of the group empty. It would be nice if the creation of the formatted notebook version of the seedlist was automated so that the number of blank rows to be added for each group was done by a subroutine.

The goal is to get the Notebook format reduced to a list of the groups with no spaces between groups and then to alter the pedigrees for the labels to be placed on the envelopes. Only the first row number of each group is needed to designate the group. Check for any row numbers between groups. There should be only one mix of seed per group. A sort by pedigree followed by row number will obtain the list (also try by row number and pedigree).

Be careful to select all applicable columns for the sort if using an Excel spreadsheet.

Sib Nursery Pedigree Edit

Please note that the pedigree notation described below is completely idiosyncratic and I don't know what system private companies, government researchers, or researchers at CYMMYT use.

The format for Sib Nursery pedigrees is -nSIBx. This format is completely unlike the Inbreeding Nursery. Normally, for the bulk seed from each group, the format is -SIBx. The n is for assigning numbers to cobs being taken out of the SIB Nursery and to be planted into either Crossing blocks or the Inbreeding Nursery the next year.

The x in the format is for the number of years the plants have been in the SIB Nursery. For the first year it is just -SIB or -SIB1. For the second year it is -SIB2. For the third year it is -SIB3 and so on for each year. The only thing that changes in the pedigree from year to year is the final digit. Note that capitals are used for SIB in the SIB Nursery but in the Inbreeding Nursery only use lower case -sib.

Sib Nursery Pedigree by Year

Pedigree	Description
1995 POP Leaming	Seed Harvested from the Leaming Population grown in Isolation
1996 Leaming-SIB1	The seed was grown in a group of twenty rows in the SIB Nursery
1997 Leaming-SIB2	The seed has been grown for 2 years total in the SIB Nursery
1998 Leaming-SIB3	One more year in the SIB Nursery
1999 Leaming-SIB4	The fourth year in the SIB Nursery
2000 Leaming-SIB5	Fifth year. The group bulk. Should contain seed from all harvested cobs of the group including seed from each of the cobs extracted below.
Leaming-1SIB5	Fifth year. Cob#1 Seed from only this cob.
Leaming-2SIB5	Fifth year. Cob#2
Leaming-3SIB5	Fifth year. Cob#3
Leaming-4SIB5	Fifth year. Cob#4
Leaming-5SIB5	Fifth year. Cob#5

The seed from the extracted cobs will be planted in a different nursery the next year.

Maize Researchers at Iowa State University use a notation involving C(n) to denote the number of Cycles (C) or times that material has been grown.

Method of Creating Pedigrees for SIB Nursery Seed

I used a manual method to create the new pedigrees since the list is small and the way of showing the updates does not seem well suited to automation. I first checked that the notebook and computer versions matched, then sorted to get a list of the SIB Nursery groups without blank rows.

I then altered each pedigree manually by entering the cell, deleting the last number and replacing it with a number 1 greater. The table below is what would appear based on the Sib Nursery Notebook for that year.

Sib Nursery Groups

ROW	FAMILY	PEDIGREE	SOURCE
7850	LAN	LANKING-SIB3	7700
7860	SS	BSSR3-1-2-3-SIB5	7720

To update this information for the harvest inventory, enter pedigree cell of row# 7850, erase 3 at end of pedigree. Replace 3 with 4 because the material has been sibbed one more year. Exit cell. Do next cell below. Change 5 to 6. Note that the pedigree of the group starting at row# 7860 is for a plant that was selfed 3 times in Inbreeding Nursey then SIBBED in the SIB Nursery for 5 years.

For single cobs extracted from the SIB Nursery I also used a manual method. It was easy to just copy the new group pedigree and then add in the cob #'s.

E.g.

TITLE

DESCRIPTION	PEDIGREE
1999 Notebook	LANKING-SIB3
1999 harvested group seed bulk	LANKING-SIB4
3 extracted cobs	LANKING-1SIB4	LANKING-2SIB4	LANKING-3SIB4

Germplasm Edit

There are many sources of germplasm to begin the work.

• Maize Genebanks

• Universities and research groups might sell or license small amounts of inbred seed.

• Seed company catalogues

• Heirloom seed collectors that publish catalogues.

• Buy a bag of commercially available hybrid maize seed

This shortcut method was used by plant breeders in the past.This was perfectly legal (obtaining the exact inbreds used to create the hybrid is close to impossible) and was a way to build on the shoulders of giants. But the owner of the plant breeder's rights for the inbreds of the hybrid seed objected to competing against its own genetics so terminator genes were developed.This method also decreased genetic diversity.

MAIZE YIELD TRIALS Edit

Yield Trial Work Outline

Promotion

Sample Promotion Page

Comments on sample promotion page

Design of Experiments

Generic Seeds Yield Trial Seed Preparation Work

In-house Experimental Design

Creating a Yield Trial Seedlist

Randomization

Seedlist Format

In-house seed prep and counting seed

Seed Packets

Applying fungicides and Insecticides to seed

Preliminary Work for Commercial Yield Trials

Working With Pre-Designed Yield Trials

Field Design and Filling Planting Trays

Planting Plan

Laying out and filling the planting trays

Planting Tray Checksheet

Measuring and marking ranges

Amount Due Calculation Spreadsheet Sample

Planting

Envelopes

Plastic trays

Making a straight first row

Checking seed depth and location

Sound off

Comment on speed vs. growth

Misplant

Notebook

Days from Planting chart

Table of Contents page

Sample Table of Contents page

Ratings

Planting Plans

New Designations and Abbreviations

Sample Planting Plans page

Sample New Designations and Abbreviations page

Format and Creation of Yield Trial Notebook page

Single Replicate Format

Single Replicate Format Example (as in computer

Single Replicate Format Example (as printed)

Three Replicates per Page Format Example (as printed)

In-House Format Example

Thinning

Staking the Plots

Tagging

Harvest

Getting the harvest and observation data together

Yield Calculations

Statistics

Harvest Indices

Yield Trial Report

Yield Trial Work Expanded Outline

Promotion

Preliminary work

Receipt of Seed from Commercial Clients

Test Design

Seed Preparation

Seedlist

Planting Plan

Planter Checksheet (if needed)

Fill Planter Trays

Measuring the Field

Seedbed Preparation

Measuring and staking ranges

Marking Ranges

Planting Plan(s)

Planting

Staking

Cutting out ranges and thinning

Notebook Creation

Early notes - (Emergence if desired) , Vigour

Herbicide Application

Cultivation

Notetaking at Pollination

Days to 50% Pollen Shed (Tassel)

Days to 50% Siliking (Silk)

Notes taken prior to Harvest

Stalk Breakage below the ear

Root Lodging

Stalk Lodging

Population/Stand count

Harvest with Combine

Harvest tags, Harvest Data Sheets, Moisture testing

Fall field work Data Entry Yield Trial Reports

Commercial Clients

Cover Letter

Results and Averages

Statistical Analysis

In-house

Results and Averages

Statistical Analysis

Harvest indices and Sorts

Promotion Edit

Each year Generic Seeds sent out a fax to prospective clients stating the Yield Trial and Nursery services being offered and the prices per row or plot. This was sent some time from late February to the end of March. This was usually accompanied by shipping instructions for sending seed to Generic Seeds from various areas.

A list of current clients and prospective clients should be prepared, kept and updated each year. Obtain prospective clients from the breeder and the various seed grower and other company directories available.

The sample promotional fax below gives a general outline. There was only slight variation in the basic outline. In 1995 for example, the fact that 30 acres of systematically tile drained land was available at one site was emphasized because tile is a rarity in the local region. The row width changed from 30 in. to 36 in. one year due to the loss of the use of a 30 in. plot planter and problems changing a used planter to 30 in. The plot length has changed at times too, as well as the prices. Ideally, you don’t want to be changing these specifications so much.

There used to be an INSPECTED PRIVATE YIELD TRIAL that was an officially recognized Yield Trial that was inspected by a member of the provincial Corn Committee who had a degree in Agronomy. The member would state that the Yield Trial was as specified by the contractor and passed a set of guidelines. This government group no longer exists as the government has gotten out of research in favour of promoting privately funded research.Such an inspection agency was useful.

Generic Seeds received material from CANADIAN COMPANIES via courier (Purolator,UPS etc.) at:

Generic Seeds

201 Anywhere St

Anytown, Anyprovince

Canada

If the material was shipped by bus it came into a local gas station which phoned to notify Generic Seeds that it had a package for the company to pick up.

U.S. COMPANY (via courier or parcel post)

Send to: Generic Seeds

c/o Convenient U.S. delivery place

1214 Anystreet

Closest border town, Closest state

U.S.A.

Get the COMPANY NAME and the DATE the SHIPMENT was SENT.

The shipments to the U.S. location were picked up in person by a company representative.

Note that by 2001, these instructions for shipping and the method of promotion may have changed, so find out what the current procedures are.

Seed Solutions is a New Zealand company that offers Winter Nursery space to Northern Hemisphere researchers. It has a nice website promoting its services [4].

MAS Plant Breeding Services in Chile also has an excellent promotional website.[5]

Hawaii Seed Research Services, Inc. (Winter Nursery) [6]

As a good example of current practice, an application form for the LOUISIANA AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION 2009 LOUISIANA CORN HYBRID PERFORMANCE TRIAL can be found here.[http://www.lsuagcenter.com/mcms/relatedfiles/%7b13c7c74d-de69-4eab-bf99-009c7ef41dee%7d/cornhptentryform2009.pdf]

GENERIC SEEDS YIELD TRIAL PROMOTION FAX

ATTENTION MAIZE BREEDERS

Generic Seeds will be contracting corn yield trials for the 1998 crop season. With this in mind, I wish to draw your attention to the following:

• The excellent location with its [specific] daylength and [specific] CHU's provides an excellent selecting area.

• I will have an official inspected private yield trial, a separate company preliminary trial and a strip trial.

• I can offer several location sites with different soil types.

• I will supply complete data for vigour, silking, lodging, stalk breakage, yield and moisture followed with a complete analysis at season end.

• Plot Size: 2 rows, 76 cm wide by 6 m long***

45-50 planted seeds per row {C}rows thinned to 30 plants

• Seed to be sent in packets of 45-50 seeds.

{C}DEADLINE FOR RECEIPT OF SEED: APRIL 15, 1998

• One Entry replicated 3 times ........................................$75.00 per Entry

• One entry replicated 2 times .........................................$60.00 per Entry

A second location is available upon request.

• Three testing sites are available. They are Location1, Location2, and Location3.

• Isolation, Observation and Nursery space is available by negotiation.

Sincerely,

Joe A. MaizeManager

Shipping Instructions

Canadian Company

Send to: Generic Seeds

Anytown, Anyprovince

Canada

U.S. COMPANY (via courier or parcel post)

Send to: Generic Seeds

201 Anywhere St

c/o Convenient U.S. delivery place

1214 Anystreet

Closest border town, Closest state

U.S.A.

{C}Comments regarding the sample promotion page {C}The row width and plot length have varied somewhat due to equipment restrictions.

The row width and length shown is for a 1/1000 hectare plot Since then, the rows have been reduced to around 18 ft. A row width of 30 in. is preferred with 22 in. of serious interest for future use. A row width of 36 in. was used one year because the used planter that was purchased couldn't be modified to 30 in. rows. It was all that was available so it was used. The different plot widths and lengths make comparison of results over several years a bit difficult and should be avoided.

The promotional fax is very plain Jane and I was advised not to bother jazzing it up. I was told that Plant Breeders are not interested in flashy promotional material.

The line regarding prices for less than 3 replicates sometimes changed so that it was more expensive per plot to do a test with less than 3 replicates.

The contract work of conducting Yield Trials for other companies was a way to make money using the equipment and years of expertise that were available to the company. Companies with good funding might not bother offering such services to other companies. On the other hand, there might be a way to make such contract work a viable business.

You will note that Nursery and Crossing block space was offered but the only people interested in that service was the USDA Germplasm Enhancement Maize program (GEM) and that was on a volunteer basis. I should add however that seed production fields of a new type of corn developed by a local University/Government research station before it closed, were grown for the company that licensed it.

Design of Experiments Edit

Yield Trials are experiments used to collect information about new hybrid varieties with an emphasis on the yield, usually as compared to the best commercially available variety or varieties grown in the local area. Some of the plots grown in a Yield Trial field might be referred to as Observation plots whose yield may not be a primary concern. There can also be Yield Trials in which comparison with a commercially available variety is not involved because one is searching for information on heterotic patterns and yields in crosses between families of inbreds or in specific inbred crosses. Generic Seeds didn’t conduct research beyond testing hybrids but in the future there will be a need for more sophisticated research and experiments. Some of the research will involve things like disease resistance, nutritional content of the seed and plant and the physiological performance of plants.

Considerable thought needs to go into the design of Yield Trials because there is a lot of expense involved in conducting them and the very large number of possible combinations of even just a dozen inbreds means it’s very easy to spin one’s wheels going nowhere on a trial and error basis searching for a hybrid with the desired performance characteristics. According to R.W. Jugenheimer, “Pioneer tested 9,800 new hybrids in 1974 plus 1,000 ‘retest’ hybrids.” As well, “20,000 performance plots were harvested” in 1974. That was 30 years ago, so today’s numbers might be even larger. The sooner the company gets someone on staff with training in experimental design and analysis, the better. This doesn’t have to be someone with a Ph.D or even an MSc. It might be difficult to justify hiring a full time statistician until the company is testing thousands of varieties but such a specialist might be hired as a consultant on a short term basis. At the very least, one can consult the plant breeders that have been acting as mentors for the company. My personal preference is for a Bayesian viewpoint as discussed in the posthumously published PROBABILITY THEORY: THE LOGIC OF SCIENCE by Professor Edwin T. Jaynes.

Read this section first and use the following website information as reference material and an introduction to the subject. These website notes are:

• 1) Professor Jennifer Kling's lectures on Designing Experiments
• 2) EDGAR: Experimental Design Generator and Randomiser,
• 3) Guide to Field Experimentation in Agriculture - experimental design,

My personal experience is that mere references to the websites won’t result in people reading them, so I prefer to have the text immediately to hand, either at the point of reference or included as an appendix. You can locate other websites devoted to the design of experiments or statistics on the web as you wish.

One of the things I noticed regarding experimental design that you will encounter online and in books at Universities is that the information is often directed at cereal breeders rather than maize breeders. There are, as a result, a few differences in the illustrations of Generic Seeds Yield Trials and the illustrations given for cereal yield trials. In Figure 4 (Randomized complete block design) of the Guide to Field Experimentation, the replicates are shown beside each other like columns in a spreadsheet while the Generic Seeds design places the replicates behind one another like spreadsheet rows. The designs in textbooks on Experimental Design are also usually far more complicated than the simple design used by Generic Seeds.

Try to keep the size of a Yield Trial Field to a day’s harvest work. This is about 350-400 plots. According to R.W. Jugenheimer, in the 1970’s, a 3 man crew and a self -propelled picker sheller could do 350 2-row plots in 8 hrs. In the early 1990’s somewhat more than this was done at Generic Seeds by one person with a plot combine and automated data collection system. In the mid to late 1990’s, when the automated data collection system wasn’t working, 2 people in the plot combine did about 350 plots in about 8 hours with a third person doing a second moisture test on samples after each round.

For an idea of a maximum figure, the largest physical fields in the local area are 1 mile by 1 mile (640 ac.) and called Sections. Each Section would hold somewhere between 220 and 250 ranges (depending on the plot length and the path widths between ranges and the number of headland rows) and around 1000 to 1050 plots (also depending on number and size of pathways and guard rows in the other direction). That’s an extreme figure of about 248, 000 plots per Section. In practice, you would plant multiple fields of a standard size with borders of 2 to 4 guard rows separated by paths large enough to drive a combine and other vehicles on. The large paths would be seeded to a cereal of some kind and mowed with a field mower. Within each field the paths between ranges would be small (3 ft.) and bare or kept bare by hoeing out weeds.

You may see references to “exchange” yield trials. These are yield trials in which 2 companies in different locations exchange varieties to be tested and each company tests the other company’s material at no charge as if the material was one’s own. This can be a good way to get a variety grown in many different locations and possibly find a variety to sell outside the local area. However, with private funding, researchers are being told to focus on developing varieties exclusively for their local area, so an exchange trial would be considered a wasteful expense. This might be an exploitable weakness if one had franchise type operations in different areas or was part of some type of association of breeding companies in different areas and could transfer seed around rather than equipment. One of the inbreds that made it possible to grow maize in Southern Ontario, Canada was an inbred from the Government Research station in Morden, Manitoba.

Generic Seeds used an experimental design known as Randomized Complete Block for its yield trials (See the Experimental Design websites ). You may hear or see references to another design known as a lattice. Randomized Complete Block (RCB) is a simple design in which each test consists of a number of ranges equal to the number of desired replicates. That is, the plots of each replicate are contained in one range. The width of each test in terms of plots is equal to the number of varieties being tested. Each variety gets one plot in a replicate. Each replicate contains plots of the same varieties but in different orders.

One of the first things to be decided is the number of varieties that there will be in a test. This also determines the width of the test since each variety has one plot in the first range. You want to keep the test compact to ensure somewhat that the soil type or topography of each plot isn’t different. Something like 50 2-row plots wide may be too wide. If you have more than 25 varieties to be tested, consider mutiple tests within a Yield Trial Field and multiple Yield Trial Fields of standard dimensions such as a serpentine pattern of 25 plots wide by 24 ranges long (if space permits). A pattern that was used in the early 1990’s involved a 24 plot width perhaps to better facilitate using 4-row electric indexing trays and a four -row planter. This pattern made the Yield Trial Fields more modular and separated planting the Yield Trial Fields from planting guard rows between each field (There are some peculiarities of this pattern that I will discuss later).

For the seedlist example in these notes I’m going to use a single Yield Trial field pattern that is 25 plots wide and has 4 guard rows of a commercially available variety on each side planted straight through. You could probably get away with only 2 guard rows on each side.

Now, after saying that, I have to add that putting the tests received from other companies into this field may mess things up a bit at least for one Yield Trial Field. For instance, a company might send you a test for 30 varieties. Now your field should be 30 plots wide and any test to be added in that field with less than 30 varieties will need to have filler plots added to fill the extra width. If one company wants to test 60 varieties, another company wants to test 15 varieties and another wants to test 24 varieties, things get complicated.

The second thing to be decided is the number of replicates to grow for each test. Statisticians recommend a minimum of 3 replicates but 2 replicates are considered adequate for their purposes by many plant breeders. I’ve seen plans for tests with 6 replicates. Both PERFORMANCE OF CORN HYBRIDS IN LOUISIANA, 1999 and AGRONOMIC AND TEST INFORMATION: GRANGER (see appended online pages) used 4 replicates.

The third thing to consider is the number of locations the test is to be grown in.

By 1999, some of the commercial companies were not interested in paying for more than 2 replicates and were often content with only one or two locations. In-house yield trials became merely observation plots with randomization often abandoned, only two replicates grown of each variety and ANOVA done only for the paying commercial trials.

Generic Seeds Yield Trial Selection and Seed Edit

Preparation Work

Parcels of seed packets will be received from other companies while you are preparing seed for your own tests. For information on how to handle these parcels and their contents, you can skip to PRELIMINARY WORK FOR COMMERCIAL YIELD TRIALS but there might be information in this next section that you need to know to understand the instructions in that later material.

I’m going to discuss in-house test design, yield trial seedlist creation and seed preparation work before discussion of what to do with parcels sent by other companies for their private yield trials because you need to know how to design and prepare your own tests from scratch. Most of the companies that send tests do all of the test design and seed preparation work for you so all you have to do is get the seed planted. However, they might just send bulk bags of seed of the varieties to be tested and a few notes on the design of the test such as the number of locations and number of replicates.

Experimental Design Edit

Random Complete Block

{C}In a random complete block design, the test is as many plots wide as there are entries and as many ranges long as there are replicates. It is designed as a block with 3 foot pathways between replicates. The entries have one plot in each range/replicate but the position of the entry's plot in each range/replicate is determined randomly. A test with 3 or more replicates is best for accurate information. RCB design is used primarily for commercial yield trials and any material that looks especially promising.This design, however, is often abandoned for a simpler unrandomized design for Generic Seeds's material. {C}The Seedlists for each test are distinguished by the number of replicates and locations. For in-house material, Generic Seeds tests involving multiple replicates and locations should be listed first in the Generic Seeds Yield Trial Seedlist. Single plots are usually for observation purposes and listed last. Note that the Yield Trials involve two - row plots. All information on the seedlist is given in terms of plots not rows.

The Yield Trial Seedlists are printed in portrait size (8.5 x 11) but the format for Yield Trial Seedlists is completely different from the other seedlists.

The basic difference is that the plot numbers for an entry are listed beside the entry and its entry number.

Once you know the number of varieties there are to be in each test and the number of replicates for the test, you can create the randomization of the plot numbers for the test.This is an assignment of one plot number per replicate to each entry number.

Yield Trial Seed SelectionEdit

The breeder will need Inventories of hybrid seed produced the previous year in Crossing Blocks as well as Inventories of hybrids to be retested and other hybrid seed from other years. A list of currently available commercial hybrids, their traits and the opinions of growers regarding these hybrids may be needed to select possible standards to use as checks to compare against.

The breeder will have to decide what the entries to be tested will be, the design of the tests, in which tests the entries will be placed, how many replicates there will be in tests and the number of locations for each test.

CREATING A Generic Seeds YIELD TRIAL SEEDLIST

First, create a list of all of the Generic Seeds entries that will be worked with as per the breeder's selections and don't assign plot#'s until after the list of entries has been finalized. This list will contain as much information on an entry as the company has such as a Source Plot number or Source Row# which might also be referred to as a hybrid number, a pedigree, and possibly a family designation. Some varieties may have been given new designations so you need to have the new designation and pedigree information together in the list or in a separate reference list so people can find the proper seed based on the Seedlist information.

Group the entries according to the number of replicates to be planted for each entry. Start with entries in multiple replicate tests and end with entries in single replicate tests. Note that it may be necessary to move some material from a 3 replicate test to a two replicate test or from a two replicate test to one plot if there is not enough seed.

Number the entries consecutively in an Entry # column. You can use ‘#’ as the column heading rather than the wider ‘ENTRY #’ heading.

All of the plot #'s for the different replicates in each location are placed to one side of the entry# and pedigree of the entry. The plot#'s can be either on the extreme left or right but extreme left is preferred. It's best not to use plot #'s reserved for other maize fields such as 1-2999 (Inbreeding Nursery) or 7001-8999 (Sib Nursery). Plot#'s should also distinguish location. E.g. 19001-19499 for Town1, 30001 - 30500 for Town2 etc.

For each entry, there will be a plot# for each replicate listed beside the entry# and entry pedigree. Plot#'s for replicates of all locations of tests using the seed of the entry will be included so all the needed packets of seed of a variety are filled at one sitting.

E.g. A 25 entry, 2 replicate test for two locations, in Town1 and Town2. Assigned Town1 plot#'s are from 20,000-25,000. Assigned Town2 plot#'s are from 30,000 to 40,000.

1993 Yield Trial

Town1		Town2
REP1	REP2	REP1	REP2	#	ENTRY
2001	2026	30001	30026	1	MX1
2010	2049	30010	30049	2	P3979

Note that the same randomization scheme was used for the two locations. This can be used to make the creation of the seedlists simpler by adding digits to the front of plot#'s. E.g. All plot #'s plus 20000 or add 200 to the left of the digits.

Note also that a single name pedigree was used in this example rather than listing the pedigrees of the parents. This is simpler to look at and of shorter width but requires some form of index regarding the new names so the correct seed can be found by the person preparing the seed. It is best to list the female source row number and pedigree and the pedigree of the male parent in that order so the seed can be found.

A format that appears in some of the older notebooks lists a female pedigree in the first column followed by a CROSS column for the male and a THREE WAY column for a third parent if the cross was a three way cross.

When it is possible, all of the plots of a replicate should be in the same range. Check varieties areusually the last 2 or 3 entries of a test. Seed of some check varieties might not be available until shortly before planting.

A preferred number of plots per replicate is 25. This would be a 25 entry test. This fits very nicely on a landscape size page for the notebook but has not been done often because of differences in the number of entries for other tests in the same field and the large number of Generic Seeds entries. Plot #'s for the first replicate are not randomized but plots for additional replicates usually will be randomized.

Often the trials for Generic Seeds hybrids have not been randomized nor replicates kept within single ranges. The plot #'s were assigned to the entries consecutively but the entries with multiple replicates were listed first so that 2 replicate material was followed by observation plots. Listing of the pedigrees has also caused some space problems using portrait size paper for the Seedlist and even for landscape size pages for the notebook. Also, finding seed that has been given a new designation can cause problems. An index can be created to show the information needed but the breeder would like to see the pedigrees rather than the new designation. If used, a copy of the index should be included as one of the first few pages in the notebook for easy referencing by the breeder.

Randomization

Each range in a test should have the plots of a separate replicate. If there are 3 replicates there should be 3 ranges. The number of plots in a range equals the number of entries. If there are 25 entries, then there will be 25 plots in each range for each replicate.

The first replicate of a trial is not randomized by Generic Seeds. This is so that if there is a mistake in the planting, inspection of the seed in the first range can be helpful. Also, the sequence 1, 2, 3, 4 is just as random a sequence as 2, 4, 3, 1 or any of the other permutations of those 4 numbers.

Other replicates are randomized by rearranging the order of entry #'s for the replicate. Remember , however, that the Seedlist sort is by Entry # so the plot #'s shown in the column for the other replicates will be scrambled rather than the entry numbers.

MSTAT was used for creating randomizations.The randomization schemes were checked. The breeder did not like an entry to appear behind itself in another replicate. If this happened, the simplest way to fix it was to exchange the offending entry number in the other replicate with another entry number in another plot in the same range (or replicate).

A simple method to produce randomizations is to put the numbers of the entries or of the plots on pieces of paper and draw the numbers from a hat. If entry numbers are drawn, the first entry number drawn is placed in the first plot of that replicate. The next entry number drawn is placed in the second plot of that replicate.

If plot numbers are drawn, then the first plot number drawn corresponds to the first entry number in the list and the second plot# drawn is assigned to the second entry number on the list.

A user friendly program should be found or created to replace the MSTAT Experiment Plot Randomization program. Generic Seeds may now have enough money to purchase software such as the AGRONOMIX AGROBASE II plant breeding software.

Your goal is to create a Yield Trial Seedlist similar in format to the sample below. With proper software, the creation of this seedlist requires only the number of varieties to be tested (including check varieties) and the number of replicates. It isn’t finished, however, until the ENTRY NAME column on the extreme right is filled so people know where to get the seed from. The creation of such a seedlist was a complicated cut and paste operation using MSTAT and VP-Planner.

Yield Trial Seedlist

ClosestTown
REP1	REP2	REP3	ENTRY #	ENTRY NAME
5001	5047	5067	1	unassigned
5002	5042	5051	2	unassigned
5003	5037	5054	3	unassigned
5004	5041	5057	4	unassigned
5005	5032	5060	5	unassigned
5006	5026	5065	6	unassigned
5007	5049	5072	7	unassigned
5008	5048	5062	8	unassigned
5009	5043	5073	9	unassigned
5010	5046	5058	10	unassigned
5011	5027	5070	11	unassigned
5012	5050	5059	12	unassigned
5013	5044	5071	13	unassigned
5014	5034	5053	14	unassigned
5015	5035	5064	15	unassigned
5016	5040	5068	16	unassigned
5017	5045	5052	17	unassigned
5018	5039	5056	18	unassigned
5019	5038	5074	19	unassigned
5020	5033	5061	20	unassigned
5021	5031	5055	21	unassigned
5022	5030	5069	22	unassigned
5023	5029	5066	23	unassigned
5024	5028	5063	24	unassigned
5025	5036	5075	25	unassigned

Yield Trial (Test) Seedlist Format Edit

Every YIELD TRIAL SEEDLIST should have a title stating that it is a Yield Trial Seedlist and possibly also other identifiers such as a Field # and Test # if such a system is in use or a company name if the trial is being done for another company. The second line shows the location or locations where the test is being planted.This is usually the name of the town or village closest to the test. I’ve shown only one town here as CLOSESTTOWN but there can be more.

The next line contains column headings. On the extreme right is the ENTRY NAME column. I’ve put unassigned here because you can make up the randomization scheme using only the number of varieties to be tested and the number of replicates. The ENTRY NAME is identification information that can be used to obtain the proper seed to put into the proper planting envelopes. The ENTRY NAME might be a name like HELIX or P3979, or it might be a Hybrid number, pedigree or a company name and # such as CIBA#1. This information is usually not printed in the notebook so it is not available to the people gathering information on the varieties during the test.

The column to the left of the ENTRY NAME column is the ENTRY NUMBER column. Each entry number is assigned to a specific variety in the test.

The 3 Replicate columns (REP1, REP2, REP3) contain plot numbers. The seedlist is not a map of the field but an assignment of ENTRY NUMBERS to a specific plot in each range. The first replicate contains plots 5001 - 5025, the second repicate contains plots 5026 to 5050 and the third replicate contains plots 5051-5075. For a two-row plot, there will be two envelopes to be filled with seed for each plot #. In the sample 3 replicate seedlist, a total of six envelopes is needed for each variety in the test. For Entry #1, there will be two envelopes marked as plot 5001, two envelopes marked as 5047 and two envelopes marked as 5067.

It’s a company policy not to randomize the assignment of entry numbers to plot numbers in the first replicate. The plot numbers of the second replicate of this sample seedlist were randomly assigned to an entry number using a basic random shuffling algorithm. The same was done for the third replicate. Remember that the seedlist is not a map of the field. The plot numbers in the field are sequential and arranged in a serpentine pattern. You can also randomly assign an entry # to a plot number in the field and then sort by entry # to get the same result. How you get such a list of plot numbers is up to you. I used MSTAT to get the randomizations but it involved a lot of cut and paste to create the seedlist as compared to the little basic program I made recently to create it all from just the number of varieties and the number of replicates. You could put the plot numbers for a replicate in a bag and draw them out one at a time assigning each one to the next entry number.

In my sample seedlist the plot numbers run from 5001 to 5075. I added a feature to the little basic program I made to set the first plot number to begin from. You could use 1 to 75 or 1001 to 1075. For the company, the first plot should always end with a 1. You might want to use 1 to 75 because you can then use the same test pattern for all the tests if they are the same size and just add prefixes like 500 to the plot numbers to get 501 to 575. In a spreadsheet this could be done with an addition formula. The plot numbers in each test and location should be unique.

If there are more locations, the name of additional locations is placed on the line with the first location name between the last Replicate of the first location and the Entry number column. The plot numbers for the next location are placed below in the same way as for the first location. In fact you could copy the plot numbers for the first location, add say, 6000 to each plot number so they were unique and paste them below the second location name. The idea is to get all of the envelopes to be filled with seed of a variety on one line and on one piece of paper so it can all be done in one sitting.

Seed Preparation Edit

Seed preparation for each test is done according to the Seedlist for that specific test. The person preparing seed should have or create a set of envelopes with duplicates of each plot# required for the test according to the number of rows in a plot. This means that for two-row plots there are 2 envelopes marked with the same plot number for all the required plot numbers. The envelopes are #2 coin envelopes that fit into the small white trays. Old envelopes with already stamped numbers can be used but make very sure there are no seeds in the envelopes from the previous year. The plot numbers can be stamped on new blank envelopes if there are no old envelope sets with the required plot numbers so a stamper that can be set to change numbers after two printings, and ink may be needed.

The storage tray and envelope of the listed hybrid source row and pedigree will be obtained from the proper crossing block. Ensure that the source row and pedigree match the seedlist.

Once the envelopes are numbered, one will need a long flat ruler (foot, yard or meter) a large tray of 10 empty small white trays, and the first large box from the storage room that contains the required seed . Don't remove just the envelope of seed needed but take the entire large tray of storage envelopes to the work bench. A small balance will also be needed to help count seeds. If a balance is not available the counting can be done by hand using a pointer such as a pencil and corners of cardboard shoe box lids (See the section MANUAL (HAND) COUNTING below).

The person preparing the seed will first place the ruler on the seedlist beneath the first record which corresponds to the first entry. The ruler is to help with moving the eyes straight across a record horizontally. One could also use a blank piece of paper positioned sideways (landscape) below each line. Get the marked envelopes of each of the required plot#’s for each replicate in each location. Look in the Entry column at the source row or source plot number or hybrid number or name and find the storage envelopes with that source information in the storage trays. Look at the pedigree required and select the same pedigree from the storage envelopes of the same source row #. The pedigree on the storage envelope should match the pedigree or designation on the seedlist.

Fill each of the envelopes for the entry with 50 seeds per envelope using either a balance or manual counting.

Manual (Hand) Counting Edit

You need 2 corners cut from the top of a cardboard shoe box. They should have two sides that meet at a corner. Pour an amount of seed from the appropriate storage envelope into one corner piece. Slide the other corner piece under the first so the back edge is twice as long as for one piece and the open side is closest to you. Use a pointer of some kind, like a sharp pencil, to separate 2 or three seeds from the others. Move these seeds using the pencil in a horizontal sweeping motion to the other corner,counting by 2's or threes. Continue transferring seed from the one side to the other until you have 50 seeds in the other corner. Use the sides of the corner piece to help pour the 50 seeds into one of the empty envelopes. Repeat for the second envelope and then put any remnant seed back in the storage envelope. Put the storage envelope away and then put the newly filled envelopes in the small white trays.

Using a Balance to Count Edit

The balance is for weights of less than 1 kg and will have a unit counting feature. See the instructions for use of the balance regarding how to proceed. Use a small pan rather than a large one. Remember to always tare out the pan's weight so you can work just with the weight of seed or unit count.

First, prepare the balance to take an average seed weight. This can be based on 5,10 or 20 seeds depending on the accuracy desired. Use the 10 seed average. If using the 10 seed average, count out 10 seeds into the pan and begin according to the manufacturer’s documentation for use of the balance as a unit counter. The unit count should say 10 and adding one or two more should increase it by one or two units. Add more seed until you have 50 units, pour the 50 units into one of the empty envelopes. Pour 50 more units from the storage envelope into the pan and then pour these 50 units into the second empty envelope. Put the 2 newly filled envelopes into the small white tray and return the storage envelope to its proper place in the storage tray.

Since seed of different varieties will have different sizes and weights, the unit count procedure will have to be done for each new variety of seed. This means everytime the pedigree changes.

There are electronic seed counters that can be bought with multiple spouts for filling more than one envelope at a time.

Rough and Ready Count Edit

It’s possible to measure out seed quantities by sight only, but this practice is frowned on because it isn’t very accurate. You should check with the breeder before using it. It might be o.k. to use this for Generic Seeds Yield Trials since the plots are overplanted and thinned. However, if you don’t put enough seed in the envelope it becomes a major problem.

50 seeds can be placed in the palm to get an idea of the amount and then a similar amount is poured into the palm of one hand each time seed is needed. The seed is then poured from the palm into the envelope with the correct plot number. {C}Use any way of counting that works best for you. Be very careful not to drop seed. Seed that falls to the floor must stay there and be put into the garbage when the area is swept. This is to ensure that only correct seed is placed in envelopes for planting.

Sometimes it happens that there is not enough seed available for the number of plots planned according to the seedlist. If this happens, the person preparing the seed should notify the breeder. The breeder may simply abandon planting that seed and replace it with another variety, a check variety or a filler variety just so plot#'s don't have to be changed.

Any changes made to the seedlist should be indicated legibly in pen and updated to the computer after the Seedlist preparation is finished. Any changes in pen on the seedlist are senior to any changes recorded elsewhere. If the change is not recorded on the seedlist it was never made.

Place the newly filled envelopes with their flaps up, at the front of the first small white tray, with a bottle or some other object behind them to keep them erect. Put the storage envelope back in its proper place in the storage tray.

As much as possible, develop a routine habit of working that avoids confusion and keeps the work moving along smoothly. Always complete the task at hand and start fresh before beginning the next task. E.g. Put back the storage envelope used before getting a new storage envelope or put the storage envelope away and the newly filled envelopes in the white tray before starting with the next Entry. To make things easier you might want to put envelopes for different locations in a different white tray.

After all of the seed including the seed of check varieties has been put into envelopes, the envelopes should be either put into plot# order and checked that they are in plot# order.

The next step will be to plan the field design and place seed or seed packets into the planting trays.

Modern Seed Counting and Packet Filling Edit

Seed Research Equipment Solutions,LLC ([7])

Seed packets Edit

Generic Seeds worked with seed packets that were #2 coin envelopes with the plot#’s stamped on one corner. Other companies send seed packets of various sizes and colours. The nicest seed packets to work with are about the same size as #2 coin envelopes and have a perforated top that is easy to rip off. The Information regarding the variety, entry#, and plot# is printed on the smaller top section of the envelope. Sometimes it seems the information should be put on the bottom section so that after the seed is poured one has the bottom sections in hand with the information and doesn’t have to find where one stashed the last two tops ripped off.

Fungicide/Insecticide Edit

Standard preparation of seed by many companies includes the application of a fungicide/insecticide. Generic Seeds does not do this. The reason is to help breed better material.(Actually, it was more like trying to avoid the hassle of getting the chemicals onto the small batches of seeds). [One year the bean nursery was practically wiped out by an infestation of cut worms]. One year, a kind of salt shaker was used to sprinkle powder on seeds in the plastic planting cells.

One method used to apply the fungicide was to create a kind of cement mixer with a 5 gallon pail attached at an angle to a rotating device. A liquid solution of the fungicide was prepared and put into a spray bottle which was then used to spray the seed of an entry as it rotated and mixed in the pail. A bulk of seed for an entry was treated, not just 100 seeds at a time.

Another possibility is to use a rock polisher. The batch of seed of a single cultivar/variety and the fungicide in powdered or liquid form are put in a short cylindrical rock polishing container with a sealable lid and mixed by rotating the container as one would to polish rocks. The container sits on two thin, cylindrical rods (one on each side of the container with the top of the container facing forward) with one rod driven by a motor to rotate and the other rod free to rotate in any direction.

Preliminary Work for Commercial Yield Trials Edit

Receipt of Seed

1. Record in a small notebook the following for each Yield Trial:

• Company name (E.g. Ioweah Seeds Co.)
• Number of Entries (E.g. 60 entries)
• Number of Replicates (E.g. 2)
• Number of locations (E.g. 2 locations, Location1 and Location2)

Update this information right up until the day seed is received.Keep the information current to after the seed is planted.

Use this information to compute the amount due and to work out the size of the entire Yield Trial Field for all of the companies.

2. When the seed is received, check the envelopes in the boxes to confirm all of the above. Record all the data available on the seed envelopes such as Plot number, Pedigree, Randomization scheme etc. and check it with the info given by the company. Record to the computer any information regarding the trial that has been received on paper. Notify the company if there are any discrepancies. If you have a scanner, scan any and all paperwork received regarding the test.

3. If a test design is needed, create the randomization scheme and seedlist and get the proper seed in the proper marked envelopes and put them in plot number order.

If the test design sent doesn’t use a serpentine pattern of plot numbering or the first replicate of the test is not randomized see the section below entitled, WORKING WITH PREDESIGNED YIELD TRIALS:PROBLEMS

If you revise a test design for which seed packets for each row were sent, write the new plot number on each envelope with a Black Sharpie marker according to your revised test design and seedlist.

4. Put the received envelopes in proper planting order. Sometimes the seed packets are sent grouped by entry so you want to make sure you get the seed packets arranged by plot number.

There can be some problems with certain test designs so see the section below entitled, WORKING WITH PREDESIGNED YIELD TRIALS:PROBLEMS.

Working With Pre-Designed Yield Trials Edit

Problems

• Received Test design is not serpentine
• Plot numbering conflict
• First replicate is randomized
• Minimizing Filler Plots

Received Test design is not serpentine Edit

A problem that can occur is how to incorporate into the design of the YIELD TRIAL FIELD, an individual company’s pre-designed YIELD TRIAL which will be referred to here as a test. This pre-designed test is a specification of a randomization scheme with plot numbers and possibly also a planting plan, that the company has created for you to use as their test. Usually, the company will pre-package the seed in individual seed packets for each row as well and staple the packets for a 2-row plot together. One would think that having all the design work done by someone else would make things easier, but in practice, it makes things more difficult, particularly if there is little or no coordination between the company’s test designer and your YIELD TRIAL design policies. For example, GENERIC SEEDS (our company) designs all YIELD TRIAL FIELDS with plots numbered in a serpentine pattern. This allows a person taking notes to move from one range to the next in an orderly and efficient manner. However, a company may design and send a test for their company plots that does not have a serpentine pattern. Instead, the first plot of each range, for example, is always on the left. As an example, KORN KING sends a test that assigns the plot#’s 1001-1020 to the first range with plot# 1001 on the bottom left side of the planting plan. The second range of 20 plots is assigned plot#’s 2001-2020. Plot# 2001 is directly behind plot# 1001 in the field. On a planting plan page, it’s above plot# 1001 on the left side of the page. There is a third range numbered from left to right from 3001 to 3020. Plot 3001 is directly behind plot 2001 in the field.

First of all, one should inform companies sending pre-designed trials that a serpentine pattern is used by Generic Seeds (our company) in all tests to facilitate the taking of notes. If the company designer chooses to ignore this information, you have no choice but to deal with the problem.

The design and analysis of a test can place importance on the position of a plot in the design and on the position of the immediate neighbours of that plot and their effects on that plot. For this reason, one needs to ask the designer about making any changes to the designed test and keep the original designer informed of any actions that affect the design. For example, if the field was designed without a serpentine pattern but is planted with a serpentine pattern, it creates two problems:

1) First, the company representatives will have a planting plan that is incorrect and when looking at what they think are the plants of plot# 2001, they will be looking at the plants of plot# 2020. The second range on their planting plan goes left to right, but in reality it has been planted with the plots in the second range going right to left.

2) Secondly, the designer may have sought to minimize or investigate the effects due to neighbouring plots, on yield or some other trait. Changing to a serpentine planting plan, puts all the plots of even numbered ranges in a different position with respect to the plots in front and behind. For shading, this is not critical because plots still have the same neighbours just on different sides but for some analyses of soil conditions etc., the planting plan used by the designer will be incorrect.

There are several ways of dealing with the problem of serpentine policy vs. unserpentine policy.

1) If it is acceptable to the original designer, redesign the planting plan with a serpentine pattern. Send a copy of this redesigned planting plan to the original designer and company for their records so that representatives sent to take a look at the plots have a correct planting plan. Make sure to properly stake and tag the plots with the serpentine pattern according to the revised planting plan. This is the simplest solution.

2) Arrange to plant the plots as specified in the original planting plan but alter the planting plan and plot#’s on the seed packets for the person filling the seed trays and alter the seedlist and notebook for the person taking notes.

If there were no plot numbering conflicts, you could use the original planting plan and give it to the person filling seed trays for planting but it’s not a good idea. The person that fills the seed trays for planting is used to serpentine planting plans and may accidentally overlook the difference in the planting plan. The different planting plan would also involve breaking the established serpentine routine of filling planting trays. The person filling the trays might forget not to use a serpentine pattern despite the planting plan and verbal or written instructions.

One way around this is to renumber the plots. However, you can’t just renumber the plots sequentially. Even numbered ranges in the design must be sorted from largest plot# to smallest plot#. This way, plot# 1020 is followed by plot# 2020 in the planting plan, seedlist , seed packet tray, planting trays and notebook.

As a matter of policy, for all pre-designed tests, retain in hard copy form all the original design information and any other information related to the tests. Be sure to get down in print any information printed on the received seed packets as well. Keep randomization, seedlist and planting plan information on the computer in the same form as for any of your own designs. It has happened that a company’s notebook did not match the information printed on their seed packets. If the seed had been planted using the plot numbers printed on the seed packets, the information in the company notebook would not match the expected phenotype of the plants in at least one plot and the company representatives would easily assume that there was a planting error and that Generic Seeds planted the test incorrectly.

Break the data up into separate ranges on a spreadsheet and sort the even ranges in descending plot# order. Create a new plot# column to the left of the original plot#’s. Use Excel’s autofill feature to fill the new plot# column from the first new plot# to the last new plot# in sequential order. Print out this information as a revised seedlist. Get the seed packets and using the revised seedlist, rearrange the order of the seed packets in trays. Use a permanent marker to renumber the seed packets on the top left according to the revised seedlist.

Revise the planting plan to a serpentine pattern and print this out for use by the person filling planting trays. When printing the notebook, hide the old plot# column. When preparing reports, delete or hide the revised plot#’s.

It should not be a problem if a test must start from a different side of the field than the company planting plan if one was received. Merely inform the company designer that the directions of the ranges have been reversed so he can inform company representatives that wish to view the test. Be sure to properly stake and tag the test.

Plot numbering conflict Edit

The YIELD TRIAL FIELD doesn’t need to be sequentially numbered from the start of the first plot of the first test to the last plot of the last test. Each separate test can use a different set of numbers. Just make sure there are no numbering conflicts between separate tests. It’s also best to avoid using numbers assigned to nurseries or crossing blocks but since the seed from tests is not kept it isn’t a problem.

If plot#’s need to be changed just add a separate column on the test spreadsheet or a new plot# field to the database file.

First replicate is randomized Edit

It is a Generic Seeds company policy not to randomize the order of the entries in the first replicate. This minimizes confusion if there are problems in the planting. The plots of the first replicate are used as references to the identity of seed in subsequent ranges of the same test. Technically, 1,2,3 is just as random a sequence as 3,1,2. It is easier to work with plots and entries if the first plot is Entry 1, the second plot is Entry 2 and the third plot is Entry 3 etc.

The easiest way to handle a randomized first replicate is not to mention the actual entry numbers to the fieldworkers but to refer only to plot numbers. If the first plot is Entry #5, let the field worker assume it is Entry 1. Tell the field worker which plot#’s correspond to the same entry number for the first plot. This creates a bit of confusion for you if the fieldworker starts referring to the seed in the first plot as Entry #1, but other alternatives can be more complicated and create confusion for more people. A second possible way to handle a randomized first replicate is to assign new Entry #’s in a new spreadsheet column and hide the old Entry #’s until needed for reports. This method keeps everything the same but what the company may refer to as a cat you just call a feline.

A third method of handling a randomized replicate is to retain the original Entry #’s but to physically reorder the first replicate by Entry # and renumber the seed packets. This method changes the planting plan so the original designer would have to be contacted before doing so. It also creates more work for you.

Minimizing filler plots Edit

When designing the YIELD TRIAL FIELD one wants to minimize the number of filler plots needed to create a rectangular field. At the same time, the plots of a replicate should all be in the same range. However, a replicate can be split into more than one range if needed. Just remember to inform the original designer if there is a change to the planting plan.

Determining the number of plots wide for the YIELD TRIAL FIELD can be done by finding the greatest common divisor of the number of entries in each test, or the closest number to the greatest common divisor.

If one receives a 2 rep, 60 entry test and a 3 rep, 20 entry test, the greatest common divisor of 60 and 20 is 20. Filler plots will not be needed at all if the 2 rep test with 60 entries is planted in 6 ranges with each replicate requiring 3 ranges and the 3 rep test with 20 entries planted in 3 ranges with each replicate requiring only one range.

If the first test was planted 60 plots wide, and the second test was planted 20 plots wide, there would be a block of 120 filler plots beside the 3 rep, 20 entry test. This is a large waste of inputs. {C}It’s possible, if absolutely necessary, to put 2 different tests in the same ranges. The only stipulation is that there should be at least 2 and preferably 4 guard rows between the tests in each range. Constructing the divided ranges can be a paperwork nightmare.

Each test should be a nice block with each range of the same test directly behind one another. This means plot numbers have to be assigned so that the planting trays can be filled in a serpentine manner. The first range of the first test will be followed by plots containing the filler/guard rows, followed by the first and second ranges of the second test, then filler/guard rows and the second range of the first test.

If one was using the plastic seed trays for the automatic indexer, one could keep the old plot#’s, fill the cells for the first test in a serpentine fashion, fill the cells for the guard/filler plots in the middle, and then fill the cells for the second test in a serpentine pattern.

Field Design and Filling Planting Trays Edit

Once it has been decided where the Yield Trial field or fields will be grown, that part of the physical field will have to be measured and marked out. This can be done as soon as the weather and soil conditions permit. A rough measure can be taken and then a more accurate one just prior to planting (as a check and to set up field markers and guides for driving a straight line).

A planter pass is 10 ft.. (Find the correct width depending on the equipment used). Usually there are two headlands on each end of the field of two or three planter passes in width (8 - 12 rows, 20 -30 ft.). Usually the front headland has been 12 rows and the back headland has varied according to requirements.

You want to have as few empty plots in the last range as possible but make some allowance for possible late entries. Also note that 4 rows of guards will be planted on each side of the yield trial field.

You will need to set a range width (I’m using the word width here in its strict definition as the shortest measurement). This is the plot length + 3 ft. pathway. This should be set in the design phase. Usually this has been of about 21 feet including the path (18 feet of plot + 3 feet of path (or 2 x 1.5 ft of path at each end of the plot)).

Measure the field length available and subtract 60' for 12 rows of headland at each end. The amount of headland to grow may vary with circumstances. To find the number of ranges available,divide the available field length minus headlands by the range width and ignore anything after the decimal.

You will need a measurement for the available field width (left to right or right to left) so you should have some idea of the area in which you want the Yield Trial field or fields to be grown in and possibly an idea of the required area according to proposed plans. At some point you should have taken measurements of the entire available space and then later you can check how proposed plans fit with this. Maybe space needs to be reserved for a Nursery of some kind on one side of the field or there is only room for 50 plots wide and then there is a steep slope in the field or a low spot that would adversely affect the tests.

For In-house Yield Trial fields the company should try to use a standard test and field size when possible. This should be set in the design phase with only minor tweaking based on the measured available space. The number of tests in a field can change but as a rule of thumb the number of entries in each test and therefore, the field width should be kept the same if possible. One field design I have seen was for 3407 plots. In one location this was grown as a field 86 ranges long by 40 plots wide. In a second location, these 3407 plots were grown in 5 fields beside each other with 4 guard rows between each field. Four fields were 26 ranges by 26 plots and the fifth field was 26 ranges long by 28 plots wide.

Yield Trials conducted for other companies have usually been placed in a single Yield Trial field but the width of this field has never been the same each year since companies send a different number of entries to test each year. The test with the largest number of entries plays a dominant role in deciding how wide the field should be. Ideally, you want to grow the test with the most entries without splitting the replicates into more than one range, however, if the largest test is 60 entries and the next test is only 24 entries, there will be a large block of filler plots in the ranges containing the 24 entry test. You might prefer to use a field 30 plots wide and split the replicates of the first test into two ranges so you have fewer filler plots to deal with.

To find the field width required, one multiplies the number of plots by 2 times the row width, or multiply the number of rows (2 x number of plots) by the row width.

E.g. 21 plots x 2 rows per plot x 2.5 ft row width = 105 ft + guard rows

If 4 guard rows are planned for each side then 105 ft + (8 rows x 2.5) = 125 ft is needed. If there are multiple fields with guard rows between them and on the outside borders, you need to take all of the field rows and guard rows into account and make sure there is enough space available with maybe 5 ft. to 10 ft. extra. The extra space is needed because the row width btween planter passes can vary a few inches and the rows might not be planted exactly perpendicular to the physical field edge.

Once the available space has been measured and the number of ranges and number of plots per range has been set, one can create the Planting Plan showing the ranges of plots and the direction of plots in each range of a serpentine design.

Planting Plan Edit

For each physical Yield Trial field that you create you will need a planting plan to guide the filling of planting trays with either seed (plastic trays) or seed packets. The planting plan was created with a spreadsheet program. It should have a title showing the name, location and possibly the year. The person filling the trays doesn’t need the year but you will print out the planting plan later for inclusion in the notebook.

INSERT SPREADSHEET 3

A basic planting plan shows 2 lists of plot numbers separated by arrows alternating in direction. The plot numbers on each side of the arrows are the first and last plot numbers on the sides of each of the ranges. The arrows show the direction in which the plot numbers increase. The planting plan should show range numbers on at least one side of the page, usually on the left. If the field is quite wide you might want a second list of the range numbers on the right side as well. The first range is the closest to the bottom of the page.There should be a title centred above the planting plan and on the left side you might want to add information regarding tests in certain ranges. You should also include information regarding guard rows on each side and if they are to be put into the trays or planted straight through after the trays are planted.

Make very sure that your arrows are alternating properly and going in the correct direction. For in-house designs the arrows should ALWAYS alternate to give a serpentine pattern. For tests from other companies there may be an exception. The test may have been designed to start on a different side than what it should if it was in a field created with a serpentine pattern throughout. It’s best to keep things going in a serpentine pattern if possible because if the arrow doesn’t follow a serpentine pattern, it may be missed or regarded as a mistake since that’s the usual pattern.

The plot numbers for a specific test should be sequential but they don’t have to be sequential for the entire field. You can have tests start at different plot numbers if necessary. Sometimes companies send tests with different starting plot numbers so it’s easier to use those numbers than change a lot of things.

There are several ways to get the plot numbers for the sides. Recently I found a way to calculate and list them with a simple program so I don’t have to calculate them at all. You might also consider using field designs of 25, 50 or 100 plots wide to make it easier to calculate the side numbers.

With the spreadsheet you can start on whichever side plot 1 is on and move to the other side and put the plot number for that side (call this number FW (FIeld Width for now) in the cell. Then move up one spreadsheet row and add 1 to FW and put that number in the cell. Then move to the other side and add one less than FW to the number you last entered and put the new number above the one. The pattern is move to the other side, add (FW-1), move to the other side, add 1 and repeat.

You can also number the sides going up or down the columns. The pattern going up is add 1, move up, add (2*FW-1) and repeat. One side starts with 1 and you add (2*FW-1) then add 1 and repeat while the other side starts at FW and you add 1 then add (2*FW-1) and repeat. You might also use formulas in the cells if you know how. Just be vary careful if you use formulas to eventually paste the values in. If a number gets altered when you leave the formulas in, it can mess up at least one more number and possibly a lot of other numbers. Use any method to get the numbers in there but be very careful not to make a mistake.

More than 18 ranges

If more ranges are needed than can be fit into the plastic trays (18) or the cardboard trays (25?), this is handled by using a second set of trays above the first set and labeling the first set as A and the second set as B. Tray 1A might hold the seed for ranges 1-18 of the first 4 rows/columns and Tray 1B would hold the seed for ranges 19-36 of the same first 4 rows/columns. The operator of the planter will have to stop at range 19 (plastic trays) so the empty tray 1A can be removed and Tray 1B can be loaded.

Show the tray assignments a few lines below the first range arrow in a manner similar to showing the ranges but with a very short arrow that always goes the same way according to whether the field is being planted left to right or right to left.

INSERT SPREADSHEET 4

Tray Assignments

	C1	C2	C3
R1	TRAYS:1D --> 20D	21D	22D --> 34D
R2	1C --> 20C	21C	22C --> 34C
R3	1B --> 20B	21B	22B --> 34B
R4	1A --> 20A	21A	22A --> 34A

The figure above shows the trays needed for two fields with a 4-guard-tray between them. The field on the left is 20 trays wide (40 plots/80 rows) by 4 trays long (72 ranges). The arrows show that the left field is being planted from left to right. The first planter round would plant trays 1A, 1B, 1C, 1D, 2D, 2C, 2B, and 2A in that order. The field on the right is 13 trays wide.

Guard rows can be planted straight through or as plots and should be indicated vertically on the planting plan outside the plot numbers and arrows. When there is only one field, the guard rows are planted straight through on each side of the field and are shown separate from the test plots.

When working with multiple fields, a modular system can be used in which the extreme left and right borders consist of two guard rows that are planted straight through while separate trays of 4 rows of guard-row seed is planted between each field. Each modular field then, has 2 guard rows on each side.

It might not be very convenient but one could plant the 4 guard rows between multiple fields straight through (4 Guard-Solid) rather than as plots (4 Guard-Tray) if an empty planter pass of 10 ft. was left between each field.

The plots of a test should all be in the same field but the numbering of plots can be continued from one field to the next.

One of the peculiarities of pre-1995 planting plans was that the plots for STANDARD TRIALS (1 rep/location and 1 standard variety) were always numbered starting with a 0 for the units digit. E.g. 0 or 5000 etc. You are advised not to do this but to start all numbering with a units digit of 1.

Another peculiarity of pre-1995 planting plans was that a plot numbering scheme was used in which the extreme left plot numbers of a field were not shown. Instead, the numbering would skip two plot#’s on the left and go from say, 48 in range 2 to 51 in range 3 and from 98 in range 4 to 101 in range 5. This may have been because these 2 rows on the extreme left contained seed for 2 guard rows. You are advised not to use this numbering system but fields of 24 plots may make the planting with a 4-row planter easier.

It might be a good idea to print out the planting plans for each field separately to reduce confusion when filling trays with seed but it might also be a good idea to be able to see the entire set of multiple field plans on one page to make sure one includes all the required guard rows.

When you are satisfied that the planting plan has all the necessary information and has no errors, you can print it out and send it to the workroom. If you had a network connection to the workroom you could just send the file.

Once the Planting Plan is printed out, one can lay out the empty planting trays whether large brown cardboard trays with exactly ten white trays each, or the plastic 4 cell electric indexer trays. Laying out and filling the planting trays Explaining about laying out the planting trays would best be done with a video or at least with the use of pictures.Two different types of trays have been used:

1) Plastic Trays

These trays are used in the electric indexer on the Kinze Planter. They are clear plastic with 4 bubbles/pockets/cells wide and eighteen cells long. There are some pros and cons of the electric indexer to consider which will be discussed later in a planting section. The seed in the Seedlist seed envelopes is poured into the cells.

2) Cardboard Trays

These are large brown cardboard trays with 10 empty small white cardboard trays inside. The seed envelopes are placed in the empty white cardboard trays in the large brown cardboard trays.

A large table is needed to layout the trays on. Two tables can be put together or even plywood sheeting can be used if it's strong enough to hold the weight. The longer the surface available, the better but a method will be shown regarding how to work with wide fields and a short surface.

A Planting Plan is essential to laying out the trays. First determine the number of trays needed depending on the number of rows wide the trial is to be. For a 60 row wide trial, at least 15 plastic trays would be needed or 6 large brown cardboard boxes.

The plastic trays are placed 4 cells wide side by side. 15 such trays beside each other will give 60 rows wide. That is, 30 2-row plots wide. The plastic trays hold eighteen ranges. How to add more ranges will be covered later. The brown cardboard trays will hold more ranges but it depends on how fat the seed envelopes are. If the table is too short to hold 15 trays, layout the trays as far as possible on one side of the table and then continue around the table laying out trays going in the other direction on the other side. This can be thought of as folding one long line of trays. Whether the fold occurs on the left side or right depends on which side of the field Plot # 1 is on. Make every possible effort to prevent movement around the table on the end opposite the fold. A physical barrier is better than a mental one. {C}Example: The Planting Plan is placed before you in the middle of the table. It calls for 60 rows (30 plots) wide by 10 ranges long. Plot#1 is on the left (The first range moves from left to right). The table holds only 10 plastic trays wide. 15 trays are needed.

The plastic planting trays need to be labeled numerically to specify the end that corresponds to the first range and the order in which they are to be planted. Masking tape and a black marker can be used. Flip the trays over and put masking tape on the bottom of a corner cell of each tray. For now, put it on the right corner cell of each tray. This means, with the cells upside down,there will be 3 empty cells, then a taped cell with a number 1 on it, then 3 empty cells and a taped cell with the number 2 on it etc. until the last cell on the right on the other side is labeled with the number 15.It makes no difference if the label is on the left of a tray or the right. Just be consistent. Do the same to each tray.The end of the tray that the label is on is inserted first into the indexer if one is about to plant the first range and last if one is on the other side of the field about to plant the last ranges to the first range.

The trays are flipped back over so the cells can be filled with seed and laid out from the left side of the table to the right. Then move around the right end of the table so that from this other side the table now extends to the right. (The fold is on the right end of the table when standing in front of the first 10 trays on the one side of the table). Continue laying trays on this other side from left to right. 5 trays are so placed. {C}Return to tray 1 and place a physical barrier that prevents movement around the table on the left from tray 1 to tray 15. It is easy to remember not to go around the table on this end when one side has only a few trays. Sometimes though there can be an equal number of trays on each side of the table and it’s easy to move in a complete circle. {C}Place the Planting Plan in front of you. Pick up a white cardboard tray of seed envelopes from the large trays labeled for the trial. Always hold the tray of seed envelopes sideways and close to you and never over the planting trays. If seed should be spilled, let it fall on the floor rather than into planting tray cells/envelopes empty or filled.

Consult the Planting Plan in front of you on the table. The first cell to be filled is on the extreme bottom on the left end if you are standing in front of the first 10 trays. The white cardboard tray holding the seed envelopes should contain 2 envelopes with the first plot number on them. The envelopes should be taken out one by one in the order they are placed in the tray. (This is to keep one from picking envelopes out two at a time and changing their order for fields with single row numbering). {C}Take out the first envelope, ensure it has the correct plot number and pour its content into the first cell. DO NOT OVERFILL THE CELL. A metal cover has to be placed over the cells of a plastic planting tray after all the planting trays are filled. Seeds that are higher than the rim of the cell will be pushed into other cells when putting the cover on. This is not at all acceptable.

Pour the second envelope into the second cell (to the right of the first). The seed of these two cells are identical because they are the same variety in two rows. Sometimes, companies use different colour fungicides for each variety or for their material. The colour can help keep one on track. {C}Continue filling cells along the first range to tray #10 then imagine the fold and continue filling the first range of cells on the other side of the table from left to right to Tray #15. Do NOT go around the right end of the table when standing in front of the last five trays. Turn the planting plan around so you can read it and check the Planting Plan regarding the Plot# on the extreme right of the first range. Make sure it matches the last two cells filled. The next cell filled is directly above the last cell filled on the extreme right when standing in front of the last five trays. Continue filling trays moving in the opposite direction from before. So move from right to left in the second range of cells until reaching tray #1 and filling the extreme left cell in range two.

Using the plastic trays, knowing where one left off when a white cardboard seed envelope tray is emptied is usually simple since the next cell to be filled is an empty cell beside a filled cell. It can be a problem,however, if you finish a range in the last tray and go for lunch. If you don’t mark where you left off or consult the Planting Plan you could start a new range in the first tray going the wrong way and not know there was a problem until you consulted the Planting Plan at the last tray.

For the large brown cardboard planting trays with 10 white cardboard trays in each box, it is difficult to know where one left off. One way to mark where the last filled place was is to put the empty seed envelope tray on top of the last filled position with the rest of the seed envelope tray over already filled cells. {C}Range three is filled starting at the cell in the third range on the extreme left when standing in front of the first ten trays. Range three is filled moving left to right the same as range 1. NOTE: DON'T go around the left end of the table from Tray 1 to Tray 15. The process of filling the planter trays in this serpentine pattern is repeated until all the ranges have been filled as per the Planting Plan. Consult it at the end of each side of a range. WIth the cardboard trays and envelopes one can miss a place easily.

Once the plastic trays have been filled according to the planting plan the covers can be put on. Be very careful not to push seed from one cell into another cell.

For the cardboard planting trays a Planter Checksheet is needed to verify that the seed envelopes have been placed properly. This is just an expansion of the Planting Plan to show all plot#'s. The columns of plot numbers are compared to the contents of the white trays checking each set of two trays from range one to the last range. The two trays should match because each seed envelope is one row of a two row plot. If one of the two trays has 18 envelopes and the other has 19, there is a problem. Or if the 10th envelope of tray 1 is for Plot# 200 but the 10th envelope in tray #2 is for Plot# 306 there is also a problem. When placing envelopes, try to make sure an envelope is placed behind all previously placed envelopes and not slid in front of a previously placed envelope.

The check of the white trays is perpendicular to the direction in which the trays were filled with seed envelopes so this is a cross check of sorts.

The Planter Checksheet can be formatted in pairs of plots to match the four rows of the planter. There can be several pairs of columns on a page.

When the envelope placement in the cardboard trays has been verified to be correct, a post-it note or masking tape and marker can be used to assign a Yield Trial name or location and tray numbers in numerical order to each tray. The trays can be stacked with higher numbers below lower numbers so the trays are planted from 1 to n.

Doubling up with seed packets Edit

If the cardboard planting trays are being used, one has the option of stapling the two envelopes for the two rows of a plot together and putting them into one tray rather than two. Most of the seed received from other companies is packaged in this way. It is nice not to have to separate the pairs. The problem ,however, is that this doubling up leads to the need for a tray on the planter that must be longer than normal for a field of 15 ranges or more. The alternative is to use twice as many white trays and to split the pairs in the office and put them into the white trays just as one would pour individual envelopes into cells for the plastic trays.

Planting Tray Checksheet Edit

Each spring that the cardboard planting trays were used, the Planting Plan for the field was created and given to whomever was filling the planting trays with seed packets (usually me). Then, after all the seed packets were placed in the planting trays, I had to create a full table of all the plot numbers in each Yield Trial field to check that the planting trays had been filled correctly.The plot#’s of envelopes in the planting trays were verified using the checksheet by checking each pair of column of numbers in each planting tray from the first to last range. Each column of seed packets was one row and the plots were 2-row plots so the pairs of plot#’s in adjacent columns in the planting tray had to match for each range.

E.g. A field that is 5 ranges by 5 plots wide.

Planting Plan

Range
5	21 ---> 25
4	20 <--- 16
3	11---> 15
2	10 <--- 6
1	1 ---> 5

THE PLOT NUMBERS ON THE ENVELOPES IN THE PLANTING TRAY(S)

21	21	22	22	23	23	24	24	25	25
20	20	19	19	18	18	17	17	16	16
11	11	12	12	13	13	14	14	15	15
10	10	9	9	8	8	7	7	6	6
1	1	2	2	3	3	4	4	5	5

The Planting Plan is used to place the seed packets in the planting tray in a serpentine order from Plot number 1 to plot number 25. Since each plot has two rows there are two envelopes beside each other with the same plot number for each plot number on the planting plan. The Planting Plan is expanded to create the checksheet. This was done in a spreadsheet. I found using the data fill command in EXCEL to be the simplest way. I knew from the planting plan what the left and right end numbers were and just entered the left side numbers along one side and maybe the next column of numbers to help data fill know if the sequence in a row increased or decreased and used datafill to fill in each row of the table. Newer versions of Excel don’t call this data fill but completing a sequence. You highlight the first two cells of the row and drag the cursor across the row using the handle. The numbers were filled in automatically. My fields were never more than 30 plots wide or 20 ranges deep so this didn’t take too long.

What you are trying to catch with the checksheet is an envelope out of place in the Planting tray. Sometimes a spot can be missed going across the range or an envelope can get slid in in front of another envelope. Usually the error of missing a spot is caught at the end of the range using the Planting plan but envelopes in the wrong range are not. According to the Checksheet, columns one and two of the planting tray should have the plot numbers 1,10,11, 20 and 21 from range 1 to range 5. You can check this with each hand tilting envelopes at the same time to see the numbers in each column. The numbers should match the Checksheet order and each other. If you had an envelope with plot number 10 in the first column and the envelope in the second column was for plot #9, the envelopes are out of place because they shouold both be plot number 10. Perhaps somewhere a spot was missed going across the second range. So you would now correct the problem by finding where the plot numbers start going wrong and putting the proper envelopes in their proper place.

Contine checking each column until you are done all of them.

You might also want to format your checksheet print-out into pairs of columns (4 row planter) to help determine plot numbers using planter passes in the field if there is a problem.

Field Preparation (Field technician’s hat) Edit

Material relating to the Field Technician's hat should be put in a separate document. It should include very practical information regarding the operation of the tractor, implements and field work.

Some points might be:

• Don't work the tractor hard and then just shut it off. Let the engine cool itself first by idling the tractor for about 20 minutes. (This might not be applicable to all tractor engines but the idea is that if the engine block experiences abrupt temperature changes it can crack and be very costly to repair.)

• BEFORE striking out inwardly across a field from a corner, clean off all plant debris from the shovels of the field cultivator or other implement to prevent creating a trail of transplanted weeds across the field.

• Use depth gauges on field implements to prevent working the soil too deep.

• When passing through lighter soil, raise the field implement slightly so the soil isn't worked deeper than in other areas.
• It is better to have seed in the ground one or even two weeks before the soil is the optimum temperature for germination rather than to wait until the soil germination temperature is reached and be rained out of the field.

John Deere put out a series of volumes in the mid 1970's entitled Fundamentals of Machinery Operation that could be consulted.

The research director of a private plant breeding company claimed in the late 1990's that despite all the Ph.D.'s,M.Sc.'s,B.Sc.'s and college technicians he had on staff, the field technicians were not setting the planters properly and were inexperienced.

This isn't really surprising since if one is born in a city, one isn't going to get much opportunity to drive a tractor or plow a field. As a University field technician, one only operates a tractor for a few weeks each year.

Perhaps there is an opportunity here to create an Agricultural College that intensively trains tractor operators. A related cooperative might contract work with agricultural producers and could cycle graduate students through training on different tractors and implements.

A field technician that was plowing fields on a Fordson Major tractor at the age of 12, and who was an agricultural producer for decades, still claimed in his late 50's that there were other agricultural producers he would love to shadow regarding field work (if it wasn't a safety issue, he would ride in the tractor cab with them and just watch what they do). These other producers knew how to read the weather and soil so that if a rain came, their crop would sprout through a crack over the row while other people's maize would be sealed beneath the surface.

Interestingly, several of these star-rated operators were trained in Europe, so there might be something in the training there that is more practical and wise.

Seedbed creation (Field technician’s hat) Edit

Application of Nitrogen (Field technician’s hat) Edit

Measuring and Marking Ranges Edit

From the side where the planting will begin and with the heel of a boot, make a mark parallel to the field edge and about 1 foot in. This represents the first row of the headland. Pull out a tape to a width that matches the planter width. Make a heel mark and continue measuring the headland for the planned number of planter passes for the headland. From the last mark, add and mark 1.5 feet and place a small wooden stake at the mark. The stakes are about 1/4" thick,1" wide and about 12" long. This stake is in the center of the 3 foot pathway in front of the first range. It may be necessary to angle the stake both vertically and horizontally to catch the sunlight. If possible use stakes painted white. {C}From this first stake, the ranges are going to be marked off on this side of the field. One person will hold the tape at the plot length with the thumbnail on the plot length number. The other person has a bundle of stakes and holds the front end of the tape.

A small stake is held next to the front of the tape in such a way that the stake can be placed in the ground in one movement down to the ground. The stake is placed so the width parallels the tape and its center is on the end of the tape. {C}The measuring pair of people then move forward until the second person is at the first stake and the measuring tape is taut. One or both yell out the range number "ONE!" at the same time that the first person places the second stake. Then the pair move forward until the second person reaches the second stake and both say "TWO" as the next stake is placed. This continues until the required number of ranges are staked out. The measurers need to move perpendicular to the field edge as much as possible perhaps by sighting out a distant object. The Stakes should be placed several feet outside the desired side of the field. This will ensure the marks can be seen when planting the first and last passes.

After marking the first side of the field, the other side of the field is marked. The ranges can be marked out starting from the far end of the field or the near end. For a large field or a set of fields all being planted at the same time, a third set of stakes may be needed between the 2 outside stakes to help keep the tractor driver going straight when marking the ranges. The third set is usually added by lining up the center stakes between the outside stakes.

The ranges are marked using a two disk marker with the disks set about 3 feet apart.

The driver lines up with the 2 stakes marking each side of the field in the center of his path and possibly also using center of range stakes and drives to the far stake on the other side as the disks mark a three foot pathway. At the other side, the tractor operator lines up the second set of stakes. It may be necessary for someone on each side to stand behind stakes to help the driver see the stakes and not also miss a stake and drive diagonally across the field. Marks should be made a little past the stakes so one can see them off to the side as the first and last passes are made with the planter. {C}Once a range has been marked, the stakes for that range can be removed. The stakes can be removed as one moves up the ranges on one side.

Illustrative video showing the marking of range aisles

NOTE: A video of real people doing the measuring and marking would be best but the overhead crane shots might be expensive. I would like to create a 3D version in Second Life or with Blender 3d and Platinum Arts Sandbox or a machinma with SimTractor 3d but no longer own a desktop computer.The video is part of creating ranges for an Inbreeding Nursery that is staked every five rows.It is incomplete and rough as I am neither an artist nor a programmer. I still need to make 2D RPG sprite characters of my own and add measuring animations to the video. The perspectives of the tractor and stakes in the video are inconsistent and need to be either top-down stakes or 3/4 overhead tractor. Can you draw? I need lots of artwork to illustrate these notes.

Amount Due Calculation Spreadsheet Sample

A simple spreadsheet was created to calculate the amounts to be paid by clients. Some companies preferred to pay half prior to planting and half after harvest so you might want to add columns for each payment.

• Number of plots = (# of entries) * (# of replicates) * (# of locations)
• Amt Due = Price per plot * number of plots
• Note that a lower price is being charged for 3 replicate tests in this example

Sample Amount Due Calculation

Company	Ents	Reps	Locs	Plots	Price/plot	Amt Due
Adam Seeds	60	2	2	240	$30.00	$7,200.00
Bill Corn	36	3	1	108	$25.00	$2,700.00
Corey's Hybrids	25	3	2	150	$25.00	$3,750.00

Planting the green mile Edit

Loading the trays(Envelopes) Edit

Have a small notebook handy for recording things like planter settings (primarily the numbers assigned to to the two sprockets that control the plot length and their position as drive sprocket or follow sprocket) or location of misplants etc. Also bring the planting plan and the planter checksheet to help if there is a problem planting. Know the direction of the first range from the Planting Plan and imagine it as a number line at the front of the field. The envelopes at the front of the small white trays should be in the same proper sequential plot number order in the large brown trays.

The people filling the cones on the planter are in seats between 2 cones and a few feet behind the cones, facing forward with two small white cardboard trays in a tilted metal or cardboard tray in front of them. This is the only arrangement I will be using.

( I noticed some other companies have the people sitting on the planter facing backward (their backs are to the tractor). The seed packets are in front of them. I find this arrangement quite disorienting but it may have its merits. )

Planting Yield Trials is easier than inbred rows because each person is planting two rows of the same seed and plot number. If the envelope in the left hand is poured into the cone on the right, it is not a problem. As long as the envelope in the right hand was poured into the cone on the left. However, it is best to enforce the rule against crossing sides with seed packets so there is no trouble when planting the Inbred Nursery.

The large brown trays should be packed for shipping so that the first ten rows are on top and can be used first followed by the next ten rows etc. {C}First, place bottles for the first eight rows. For the first four rows, the bottles are put in front of the first envelope. For the next four rows, the bottles are placed behind the last envelope. Each time you complete a round, you will do this to the 8 small white trays you pick up for the next round. {C}Don't even think of ever trying to take all 8 small white trays to the planter in one trip! Take 2 or 4 trays at a time,whatever you can handle without spilling, and maybe arrange to have the other person or the driver help you. {C}Here is the tricky part. Each small white tray of the first four rows must be individually spun 180 degrees so that the bottle is away from you and the back of the envelopes are towards you. It's best to do this in the large brown tray so that now you have 8 rows with bottles away from you but the first four rows have envelope backs to you. Now the trays are in the proper order as viewed from the back of the planter.

Next, I pull the first four trays out as a block. I put my hands on each side of the ouside trays and press gently towards the center as I lift up and get my fingers under two trays on each side. Don't press the trays too hard together or they will buckle upwards and spill. You can also take them out two at a time. {C}Give the 2 trays on the right to the person on the right side of the planter and then put the 2 trays for the left side in their proper boxes on the planter. Return and get the next four trays for the round. Don't change the sequential order of the next four trays or spin them around. Place them in the fertilizer box with the bottles to the back of the planter and make sure they are positioned and supported so they won't spill.

Check that the 2 plot numbers match for each side. Each person can check their two top envelopes behind the bottle and the one person can sound off regarding the plot# and that the match is ok. The plot # should be one higher or lower depending on the direction of the first range.

The general rule for planting envelopes is TAKE IT FROM THE TOP. Always draw the next envelope from the top of the tray. This is the envelope farthest from you. Don't take an envelope from the bottom of the tray. The reason envelopes are taken from the top is because when envelopes are taken from the bottom, there is pressure on them from the bottle and the other envelopes that makes them rip on staples or pull other envelopes out with them when they are taken out. {C}When you are confident the envelopes are in their proper rows on the planter, draw the top envelopes from your two rows. Draw the left envelope with the left hand and the right envelope with the right hand. Look at the plot#'s. They should be the same. You can sit them on your lap to help get a better grip on them or to be ready. Pour each envelope into its respective cone. This is the signal to the other person that they may do the same. When they are finished, and you are ready to go, check with the other person that they are ready to go and if so, give the signal to the driver to pro seed. ( pun intended!). You can also tell the driver to ‘make it sew!”.

When the planter is in the proper position with respect to the first range marker line in the soil, press the button to drop the seed. Push the button confidently and firmly. If you press it quickly as if you were afraid it would shock you, the press might not register at all and the seed won't drop. If you press slowly, it might register as two presses and seed just put in for the next range may drop in with seed of the previous range. This is a problem someone can work on.

Get the next two envelopes and pour them into the head ready to be dropped onto the cones. You should be about in the middle of the range or even three quarters through if you had some problems pulling the envelopes out. Get into a habit of press and fill,press and fill. If you don't, you will be doing something else and miss doing one of the two. Don't do anything else like sounding off to check the plot#'s or checking the cones until the head has been filled.

Locate the marker line for the end of the first range and the marker line for the start of the second range. The two lines should be separated by 3 feet while the other lines are separated by about 18 feet. For short plots like in the bean nursery, it can be confusing to know what is path and what is plot. Prepare to press the button when the planter is in the proper position with the second of the two range marking lines ahead. This is the line marking the start of the next range. Don't use the line that marks the end of the first range or you will be planting into the pathway. Sometimes you can note whether seed is still being planted in the cone from the first range. All the seed should have gone down the hole before you press the button.

When the planter is in the proper position for the second range, press the button,get the next two envelopes and fill the head.

Things to check for:

• Do the plot #'s match for your pair of envelopes?
• Is the plot# being planted by the other person in the same range as yours?
• Is the cone working properly?
• Is it going around at a steady pace or is it stopping and starting as if it's catching on something?
• Is all the seed out of the cone before the button is pressed?
• Is all of the seed dropping onto the cone?
• Is the seed evenly spread around the cone? Are the cups working properly to drop the seed?
• Is the cup opening and closing properly?
• Is the cup opening and closing when the button is pressed?
• Is the cup opening and closing more than once when the button is pressed?
• Is the seed being spread evenly around the cup before being dropped?

Make prior arrangements with the driver regarding what signal will be used to have him stop at about the 5th or sixth range to check seed placement and depth. {C}Stop the driving after a range has completed planting and before starting to plant the next range.

The main correction to be made will be regarding when to press the button. {C}After checking the seed placement the driver will have to back up a bit to get the cones moving before continuing the planting.

In the last few ranges you may encounter empty envelopes. It may seem stupid but just go through the motions of pouring them into the head as if they contained seed. The reason for this is that it maintains the routine of press and fill. Otherwise, with nothing to do, one will be looking at something else and forget to press the button. It also helps ensure that everything is in its proper place especially when starting from the empty range.

Try to see where the last seed of the last range drops to get an idea of the range length and where the range is starting in relation to the marked lines. {C}The driver will turn the tractor and get into position to start the next pass and then stop and lower the planter.

Here is another tricky part.Take the next four envelopes from the fertilizer bin. The bottles should already be in the right places but the two trays on the left will be put on the right side of the planter and the two trays on the right will be put on the left side of the planter. Have in your mind the first range number line and how it would look from this end of the field. The plot#'s must go in the same direction as the number line. If the number line is moving from west to east, the plot numbers on the planter should also increase from west to east when looking from behind the planter at the plot#'s on the envelopes nearest the people. The plot#'s nearest you are planted last into the first range at the other end of the field.

Plant the second pass of the first round the same as the first pass but with corrections for seed placement. Check part way down the field how the seed placement is. Check for a few more passes and when it looks good, stop checking.

Electric Indexer (plastic trays)Edit

The trays are shipped to the field in the order they are to be used. Each tray has one end marked with the tray number. The planter has storage space for a dozen trays or so.

Ensure that the tubes from the indexer holes to the heads are going to the correct rows. The tray is inserted with the metal covering on the bottom. This means that for a left to right first range, the seed for row 1 falls down the hole farthest from you and the seed for row 4 falls down the hole closest to you. For a right to left range, the seed for row 1 falls down the hole closest to you and the seed for row 4 falls down the hole farthest from you. {C}The cones on the planter are marked from behind from left to right as 1 on the left and 4 on the right. If the first range is from left to right, the seed for row 1 falls into cone #1. If the first range is from right to left the seed for row 1 falls into cone #4.

The first tray is inserted into the indexer with the numbered end first and slid from left to right. The metal covering will hit a metal ledge but the tray will keep sliding. Position the tray so that the first gap between cells is directly below the indexing bar that advances the tray one cell to the right each time the button is pressed. I don't remember if this is after the first set of four cells empties down the holes or if you must advance the tray to the holes. Either way advance the tray so that the first set of four cells empties into the heads below.

The indexer and the button that is pressed to activate it have been troublesome at times. If the tray is not positioned properly, the bar of the indexer will crush the cell and the indexer will have to be taken off with wrenches and repositioned.

It is very important to press the button firmly and confidently. If the button is pressed very quickly, the press may not register and the indexer won't advance the tray one cell to the right. If the button is pressed too slowly, the press may register as two presses and seed from 8 cells will be mixed together in the heads. One group of researchers solved this button problem by replacing the electrically operated button with a hand crank.For a field with lots of plots this might be too hard on a person's arm.

There is another button for the horn to notify the driver to stop if there are any problems. This is usually if the button doesn't work properly and the tray doesn't move or moves too far. Sometimes, the cones may not be working properly, but a disadvantage of using the automatic indexer is that the operator is too far up and too busy to see how things are going.

When the operator of the indexer is ready, the signal is given to the driver to pro seed or make it sew! Usually, the position of the marker arm on the planter in relation to the range marker line in the soil is used to determine when to press the button that advances the tray one set of cells to the right. Note that this position will have to change with the speed of the tractor.

At the other end of the field, the next tray is inserted with the number of the tray on the left. So the plots of the first range are planted last.

Often a field is not 18 ranges long so there are empty cells in a tray. Sometimes there are only a few trays with empty cells for the last few rounds of the planting.

If there are empty cells, the tray must be advanced to the proper place to begin planting. If the last range was completely filled, the tray can be advanced to the first cells with seed.

If the last range has empty plots, the first cells, possibly empty, are the ones of the last range. E.g. if the trays hold 18 ranges. The last range is 12 but there are empty plots on one side of the range. Position the tray so that 6 empty sets of cells have passed through. The next cell will be empty and correspond to range 12. Depending on the circumstances , you can advance the tray past the empty cells for range 12 and move the planter to range 11 before starting to plant. Note ,however, that no fertilizer is being placed for the empty plots. Otherwise, start the planting for range 12 as for any other start from a field end,press the button at the proper time to move the tray one set of cells to the right, and prepare to plant the seed of the next set of cells at the proper time and place in the next range. This method ,however, places fertilizer into the empty range and marks 4 rows.

When the entire Yield Trial Field has been planted place flags to mark the corners of the field.

Making a straight first row Edit

Usually the first pass of four rows is made with a common hybrid in the planter buckets and then the buckets are taken off and replaced with the cones. These four rows are guard rows.

The basic method of planting a straight first row is to mark at both ends of the field and between, where the first row is going to be, and put up large white stakes where the center of the planter will be to guide the driver.

After marking where the first row should go, measure across to where the center of the planter should run and place a large white stake. Do this for a point further down the field and for a point at the other end of the field. Take a sight from behind the first stake to the last stake and correct the position of the middle stake if it is not in line.

The driver should make sure to put the planter marking disc down.

Checking seed depth and location Edit

The seed depth and plot length should be checked on the headlands or some other place (where stray plants pose no problem) prior to planting the Yield Trial plots.

For the first few rounds of planting the Yield Trials the driver and the people on the planter should periodically check the placement of the seed. The driver must work together with the planters. Plant about 4 ranges and stop before planting the fifth range. First, check the seed depth in all rows and make adjustments to the planter if needed. Then check the location of the seed in several rows to find where the first seed dropped to where the last seed was planted for the range. The different colours of fungicides and insecticides on the seeds can help.The wooden stakes work well for exposing the soil to find the seed. Once one learns where to look on the planter track it is pretty straightforward. Remove the first inch of soil using the stake sideways and then use the point to find the narrow channel that the seed is planted in and slowly flick soil away until a seed is exposed. Be sure to replant and cover the seed. {C}Determining if the poor placement of seed is because the plot length is too long or too short or if it's because the seed is being dropped too early or too late is a bit tricky. If the seed was dropped after the range marking line and the last seed is several feet before the next range marking line, the plot length is too short. If the seed is dropped close to the range marking line and the last seed is well into the pathway between the next two range marking lines, the plot length is too long. If the seed is dropped a foot too soon and ends a foot short of the range marking line for that range, the plot length is perfect but the cue to drop is too soon. If the first seed found for the range is a foot past the range marking line and the last seed is a foot past the range marking line, the plot length is perfect but the cue to drop the seed is too late. {C}If the seed is dropping too soon or too late, adjust the point used for determining when to let seed drop.

If pressing the button at the proper time seems to be a big problem, there are systems one can get with wires that are laid on the ground and something on the wire trips the seed cups at the proper place.

I always thought it would be neat to set up a laser and reflectors on each side of each range to trip the seed cups when the sensor on the planter broke a beam.

Maybe a B52 bombsight of some kind would help(?).Possibly use differential GPS and lasers???

Sound off Edit

Sounding off is just announcing to the other planter what plot#(s) was just dropped into the cone. It is a double check on the plot #'s within a range. It is most useful in the Inbreeding nursery but it doesn't hurt to use once in a while when planting Yield trials. Do a sound off before starting at each end of the field to make sure the trays were properly placed on the planter and are being picked from properly. As long as the other plot# for a commercial yield trial is one higher or lower, the planters are planting the same range. If one of the plot#'s is not one higher or lower, an envelope may have been missed and not planted or planted in the wrong range. {C}For commercial yield trials, the colour of the envelopes can help more to check that both planters are planting the same range at the same time. One company may use blue envelopes and the other yellow. Both planters should start planting blue envelopes at the same time. At all times the planters should be planting the same colour envelopes except if there is a range holding plots for more than one company.

Comments on speed vs. growth Edit

A speed of planting that is the same as an agricultural producer would use is ideal. However, proper placement of the seed is paramount. The driver of the planting should not go faster than the person(s) doing the planting on the planter. A plot that is 5 feet out of its proper range is no good to anyone. Nor is a plot with large 10" gaps because the planter went that far before the next seed fell. Going slow does seem to give a growing advantage to plots so the driver should try to drive at a consistent speed. It is better if all the plots are planted well than if all the plots are planted poorly. The person(s) on the planter should work as quickly as possible without making mistakes as they can. A speed of planting that is too slow can easily lead to more mistakes because someone has shifted their attention to something else while waiting to pour seed into the planter or to press the button to put the seed in the cones. Find a comfortable speed to work at.

Misplant Edit

If there is a malfunction of the cones, stop the planting. Seed from cones can be obtained by catching the seed below the planting tube as the cone is spun manually.

If the seed has different colour insecticides, it can be sorted out and planted again with the planter, or planted manually. If there is no way to distinguish what seed belongs where, the plot will have to be left empty and reseeded later with a check variety or possibly new seed obtained from the sponsoring company.

The location of a misplant should be noted so that people can be vigilant later regarding the possible existence of carry over plants in previous ranges.

Record any planting errors and their corrections as well as replantings (R), carry over (CO), transplants to (TT) and transplants from (TF), double or partially double plantings (D). Get the correction information typed up and put into the notebook as well as make the necessary corrections to the affected notebook pages.

Yield Trial Notebook Edit

Covers Edit

pasteboard landscape (12 in. x 9 in.) covers for 2 prong Acco bindings Notebook Colour (BLACK) Title Label on Front Cover Company name, address and contact particulars (Inside Front Cover) Days from Planting chart (Inside Back Cover)

Contents Edit

Company name, address and contact particulars List of Yield Trials being conducted with locations, plot #’s, # of replicates etc.

Ratings Edit

Planting Plans New Designations and abbreviations Note Pages

Front Cover Edit

Black Notebook covers and Front Cover Label The notebooks have been created using 2 prong ACCO bindings in landscape size. For ease of identification on the shelf, BLACK has been preserved for the YIELD TRIAL NOTEBOOK. If the colour is maintained from year to year, identification becomes simple. An easy to read label for the Notebook should be on the fron t cover. The label does not need to be fancy but background pictures etc. can be included. The main priority is that the letters are big and very visible such as black on white. The title should state at least the year and the general contents. E.g. Yield Trials 2001 or 2001 YIELD TRIALS. It could also be three lines for three Yield Trials e.g. 2001,Commercial Yield Trials, Our Company Yield Trials.

Inside Covers Edit

Company name, address and contact particulars on a label applied to the Inside front cover.This information will be helpful if the notebook is lost. Days from Planting (inside back cover) Post a DAYS FROM PLANTING CHART on theinside of the back cover. The chart can be taped on with clear scotch tape. A plastic pocket might be a good idea to help waterproof it as well as being convenient. The chart should also be printed as a page and placed just before the actual yield trial records.

The DAYS FROM PLANTING CHART should have at least two or three columns. Column one could be the day of the month,column two could be the month, and column three could be the number of days from planting. It is easy to create the chart using a spreadsheet. The range needed is about 60 days to 80. Most hybrids have been in the 70's. It is nice to also include a statement of the traits being rated and the high/low range. (E.g. Vigour 1-5, 1 is best, 5 is worst)

Planted: May 15, 1975

Days from Planting

Date	Month	Days from Planting
15	May	0
16	May	1
17	May	2
20	July	67
21	July	68
22	July	69
23	July	70
24	July	71
25	July	72
26	July	73
27	July	74
28	July	75
29	July	76
30	July	77
31	July	78
1	Aug.	79
2	Aug.	80
3	Aug.	81

It may prove helpful to include the day of the week as well.

Table of Contents Page Edit

This page should have the Company name, location and contact information as a header. It should list the Yield Trials being conducted. It might list them as locations and Company names with the row or plot numbers for each company test listed. It might also list tests by type and location with relevant plot#'s. A sample Table of Contents page is shown on page 42. The example is on a portrait page but the notebook pages are usually printed as landscape pages.

If a standardized field size is used for all Yield Trials for Generic Seeds, a listing could be made of the Field numbers, # of tests in each field and the type of material being tested. The word field is being used here to a portion of a physical field planted to a set number of rows with a set number of ranges.

Sample Table of Contents Page Edit

FORMATTING PROBLEMS BELOW FOR TABBED TEXT

GENERIC SEEDS RESEARCH LTD

123 Anystreet

Anytown, Anyprovince

CANADA

T6J 0H5

Ph: (403) 555- 5555

1957 GS YIELD TRIALS

STANDARD TRIALS: 1 rep/location

Location : TOWN1 TOWN2 TOWN3

Plot #’s : 1-3407 5001-8407 10001-13407

Standard: P3984

ADVANCED LINE TRIALS: 2 reps/location

Location: TOWN1 TOWN2 TOWN3

Plot #’s : 20001-22100 25001-27100 3001-32100

Standard 1: P3979

Standard 2: P3967

Standard 3: KO30

FLUNKS TRIAL: 3 reps/location

Location: TOWN4 TOWN2

Plot #’s : 40001-40060 50001-50060

PRIVATE OFFICIAL TRIAL: 3 reps/location

Location: TOWN4 TOWN2

Plot #’s : 41001-41060 51001-51060

HIGH LANDS TRIAL: 2 reps/location

Location: TOWN4 TOWN2

Plot #’s : 101-140 101-140

201-240 201-240

RATINGS

There should be a page summarizing the characteristics to be observed and rated as well as the rating scale.

E.g.

Vigour: 1 to 5. (1is best rating. 5 is worst rating)

BRK (Breakage): 0 to 60. The number of stalks in the plot that are broken below the ear.

Planting Plans Edit

This page should show the width of the field(s) in plot#'s, the number of ranges, direction of increasing plot#'s in a range, the presence and number of guard rows on each side of the field(s), names of fields by Company, location or type and information regarding directions if needed such as North, South, East or West.

If the Notebook does not contain a page showing the planting plan, this makes it impossible for the person working on the reports to match Harvest numbers to Plot numbers. The existence and location of filler plots should also be stated on the planting plan.

Note on the planting plan or harvest data sheets if there is any change in the number of ranges or plots/range in any part of the field prior to harvesting the plots. There is a possible problem if part of the last range contains filler plots that are harvested as a block and data for those plots is not recorded. This changes the number of harvest plots for which data will be obtained and changes the number of ranges harvested on one side of the field. E.g. Last range on left side was 19 but first range on right side was not 19 but 18. This means the 20th harvest# was not for the plot in range 19 on the right side but for the plot in range 18 which normally would have been harvest # 21. The person matching plot#'s to harvest #'s needs to know if the plots in range 19 were skipped. If the person doesn’t have this information it puts the matching out of order and the number of plots in the field won’t match the number of plots harvested.

New Designations and Abbreviations Edit

This page is needed for In-house Generic Seeds Yield Trials. It is for the Breeder's reference purposes. The breeeder may not be familiar with a new abbreviation or name for a new variety or may desire to know more about the pedigree derivation of a variety. I don’t know much about how this was done. New crosses were given shortened names that contained some reference to the parental names. E.g. M17 = CM7 x MO17 or SK380 = SK02 x SK16 x CM380

At S5, Inbreds were considered pure and assigned short names of about 5 or 6 letters and numbers. The inbreds were grouped by pedigree and the new names for a family of inbreds or a group of inbred sibs from a cross would contain a sequential number given to each of the related lines.

When giving names you should be aware of the abbreviations used by the Federal Government Research Stations and U.S. Universities and Government Researchers. Canadian government designations start with C and the first letter of the station’s location followed by a number. CB = Canada Brandon, CM = Canada Morden, CL=Canada Lethbridge, CO = Canada Ottawa, CG=Canada Guelph etc.

PLANTING PLANS EXAMPLE PAGE (entire physical field)

{C}NEW DESIGNATIONS AND ABBREVIATIONS

My predecessor didn’t give me any information regarding the system that was used for creating and recording new designations or even hybrid numbers. I’ve only seen a few of the old lists from the early 1990’s in several different arrangements. One thing I don’t know is why some of the new designations don’t include a full sequential list as one or two numbers in numerical sequences are missing. E.g. CSK1, CSK2, CSK4, CSK5, CSK6, CSK7, CSK8, and CSK10 to CSK25 is missing CSK3 and CSK9.

Most designations were not more than 5 alphanumeric characters.

When creating a new designation you want to keep some of the information from the pedigree in the new desigation if possible.

Basically you just make a list with the new name on the left and all the parental pedigree or long pedigree information on the left. If it’s a cross put the female pedigree first followed by the male pedigree. {C}INSERT SPREADSHEET 9

The crosses I made new designations for were often impure and quite messy. The pedigrees were listed completely and many inbreds were past S5 when they should have been given a shortened pure designation. Often the pedigrees involved multiple crosses on both the male and female sides. Sometimes it’s easier to show the pedigree vertically with the male pedigree on the top and the female pedigree on the bottom.

INSERT SPREADSHEET 10

In 1999, a cross was made involving a pure Leaming family female inbred that was a three-way cross selfed to S7 and a Lancaster family male (seed from 1998 and 1997 and a sib row) that was a cross.Both should have been renamed earlier.

New Name: LEAKEY?? A.K.A. Hybrid 996574

Pedigree: ((LEAM*KE372*KE403)-(1-7)-3-2-1-1-2-1) * (CB18*P651)

male seed from 98-8676,98-8746, and 97-441-(1-8) {C}Certainly a mongrel cross!

Derivation? (LEAM x KE372 x KE403) x (CB18 x P651)

NOTE: I have used the asterisk for an x in the pedigrees to avoid confusion with the letter x.Unfortunately, this use of the asterisk conflicts with Purdy notation in which the asterisk is used to denote a backcross.

NEW DESIGNATIONS OF B73 PEDIGREES {C}Unfinished - FORMAT AS 3 SPREADSHEET COLUMNS

New Designation, Old Designation, A.K.A.

B7326,B73-22-3-2-5-2,1474

SO you need some kind of system for keeping track of the new names and you post a listing near the front of the Yield Trial Notebook.

{C}Format and Creation of Yield Trial Notebook page {C}The NOTEBOOK is printed as landscape pages. That is an 11 in. x 8.5 in. page. It is longer across the page than down.

The first line of the page header should contain the year of the trial, the name of the trial, the location of the trial, and the date of planting. The date of harvest can be shown on the summary report in the fall.

The second line contains the column headings for the records. These may change somewhat for different trials.

Ideally, each replicate would have 25 entries and all of these would be held in one range. Each range would therefore have 25 plots to be evaluated. A notebook page would have 25 records so the page would not have to be turned until notes on a range of plots is finished.

Often , however, the Commercial trials are of various sizes and a range may be 36 or some other number of plots wide and more than one page. {C}Sometimes it is possible to put up to three replicates on a single page. It depends on the space needed for writing numbers and the size of the pedigrees in the ENTRY column.

A replicate may also be split into two ranges with a page in the notebook for each range. E.g. 60 Entries, 30 entries per range. Note that if the next trial is 36 plots wide, the 6 filler plots in each range of the first trial are not listed and they form a block on one side rather than being interspersed with the other plots.

The columns for data entry should be a sufficient size in width and heighth for entering two digit numbers with a pencil by most people, not just small letter writers. This must be a priority since the purpose of the Notebook is to collect those numbers as they are observed.

The column headings would be PLOT#, ENTRY, ENTRY# (Usually I just put # to keep the column width small), ENTRY, VIG, TAS, SLK, BRK, POP, and one or two blank columns for possible extra data columns.

The ENTRY column is shown twice beacuse the notebook on the computer should hide the second ENTRY column data with the variety names or pedigrees and print only the first ENTRY column data. The first entry column data contains only the pedigrees of check varieties. The second ENTRY column contains the names or pedigrees of all the varieties in the test. Note that since the ENTRY column with all the pedigrees is hidden and not printed, there is more available space for columns on the printed page.

The idea behind hiding the second ENTRYcolumn is to blind the observer as to the identity of the material in the trial. The first entry column showing only the check varieties really shouldn’t be necessary and would not be used but the breeder wanted to know which plots the check varieties were in.. {C}Place the observation columns in the order that data will be enterered into them. This helps in getting the data in the correct columns.

VIG is short for VIGOR, TAS- Days to 50% Tassel shed, SLK - Days to 50% of the plants silking, BRK - Number of plants with breakage of the stalk below the ear, POP - Plant Population of the plot. {C}Some other columns used have been an EMERGENCE column before the VIGOR column. It is for the number of plants that emerged after planting. Stalk Lodging, Goose neck, COLUMN (Stalk Breakage above and below the ear), Root Lodging, etc.

The Yield Trial Notebook page should have double lines or a thick line below every 5th record. This isn't really necessary for Yield Trials but can help in keeping one's place when entering data in the field and at the office. It is more important for the Inbreeding nursery.

Use dashed lines rather than solid lines. Dashed lines are easier on the eyes and on ink useage.

Colour formatting is nice if one has the time.

Page numbering would be useful except there are frequent changes to the notebook. It isn’t necessary.

Sectional page numbering might be an option since changes in other sections would have no effect. E.g. Section A Pages A100-A151,Section B Pages B100-B125.

You can create Excel Styles and Templates for the notebook pages.

Notebook Edit

For the notebook, each replicate had to be sorted by Plot# with the Entry# and Entry name. The data for each replicate had to be listed below the previous replicate rather than beside it. Later more columns will be added for entering observed data. For Commercial Yield Trials, Entry Names and especially Entry pedigrees as Entry Names would be entered and stored but hidden and not printed out. The column was hidden by reducing its width to 0. By hiding the Entry names one is not changing an observation to match a preconceived idea of what the data should be or giving a higher grade based on the pedigree.

1993 Yield Trial

Replicate 1
PLOT#	#	ENTRY
5101	1	CIBA#1
5102	2	CIBA#2
5103	3	CIBA#3

ETC. (Plots (5101 to 5125))

Next Notebook page

1993 Yield Trial

REPLICATE 2
PLOT#	#	ENTRY
5126	1	CIBA#1
5127	24	P3984
5128	25	P3979

Etc. (Plots 5126 to 5150) for this test

P3984 and P3979 were the best hybrids for the area {C}at the time and were used as the checks

NEXT NOTEBOOK PAGE

1993 Yield Trial

REPLICATE 3
PLOT#	#	ENTRY
5151	10	CIBA#10
5152	21	CIBA#21
5153	6	CIBA#6

Etc. (Plots 5151 to 5175)

The use of PLOT#'s in sequential order rather than ROW#'s is preferred. Use of Plot#'s halves the number of records to be printed or stored. If Row#'s are used, they can be listed as the set of odd numbers (E.g. 1,3,5,7,9 ...). Don’t get confused between rows and plots and record data for each row of the plot. There may be confusion about what one means by the term ‘row’ so see the Terminology page that explains how I am using the term.

For the commercial yield trials, a source row column is not needed. This information is usually not released. For Generic Seeds material, the Source row number from a Top Cross field could be used as a unique hybrid # identifier.

If a Yield Trial is 20 plots (40 rows) wide. Print only 20 lines per page for data from one range of 20 plots. If ROW#'s are used this would be 1,3,5,7,...39 rather than PLOT#'s 1 to 20. Print one range per page. Either way is just as easy using Excel’s datafill command but I prefer the use of Plot #’s.

Single page example

Page 47 is a sample Notebook page as it would be printed. It is a landscape page (11 cm x 8.5 cm)

{C}Be sure to leave a proper amount of margin on the left so the printing is not covered up by the Notebook Cover center binding part.

The first 2 rows on the page have a yellow background and no lines. This isn’t really necessary but looks nice. Black and white is fine.

Row 3 containing the Column headings has a grey background and grid lines. Again this is just window dressing. A dark grey isn’t a good idea as it makes it hard to see the black letters.

Rows 1 to 3 are header rows except for the replicate designation. They can be designated as spreadsheet title rows for printing or created separately as a page header.

Perforated grid lines are easier on the eyes. It also helps to keep track of ones place if the grid lines beneath every fifth plot are doubled or thickened.

(E.g. Below Plots 12005, 12010, 12015, 12020, and 12025)

SINGLE PAGE ON COMPUTER {C} SINGLE PAGE AS PRINTED (Oops! Forgot the thick line every fifth plot! {C} 3 REPS/PAGE {C} {C}IN-HOUSE FORMAT

Thinning Edit

I am told that thinning is not necessary if one uses a vacuum planter. Generic Seeds would like to acquire one but the cost is prohibitive so a cone planter is being used.

Equipment:

• sharp triangular hoes for the thinning work
• metal file
• chopping hoes or triangular hoes for cutting out ranges
• tape measure
• hats
• sunblock
• water (no ice!)
• Yield Trial Planting Plan at least and if possible, Yield Trial Notebook.

Avoid Heatstroke !

Everyone must have a hat. Hats that also protect the neck from sunburn are best. Wide brimmed straw hats are preferred by many workers.

Protection from the sun by wearing proper clothing and/or sunblock is necessary to avoid sunburns. There is a safety issue regarding footwear and sharp hoes that needs to be addressed but most people seem to avoid accidents while wearing sneakers, sandals and even bare feet. Arrangements might be made to work early in the morning and in the evening when it is cool to avoid problems with the afternoon heat.Water brought to the field should never be ice cold.

Emergence counts

Do any Emergence counts first, if required, before chopping out the ranges with the chopping hoes. Triangular hoes work just as well as chopping hoes for cutting out ranges. The chopping hoes have a blade that looks like a slice of North American bread loaf or an upside down small case letter m.

Once all the emergence data is recorded the thinning can begin.

Thinning Procedures Edit

The thinning is done when the corn plants are about 8 inches high or so. They come up to about half way from the ground to one’s knees. Check this and correct this line.(I think they were shorter)

Triangular hoes are the best to use. Have a file on hand to sharpen all hoes and to keep them sharp.

Before entering the field, know exactly how many plants are to be in each plot for each company. The usual plant population used has been about 30,000 ppa (60 plants for a plot 1/500 of an acre in size. Pioneer hybrids are recommended for planting at about 24,500 ppa and Novartis liked that plant population as well. The KWS varieties were bred for around 44,000 ppa.

Assign two people to work together to cut out the ranges ahead of the others.

Cut a straight line along the range marker line at the front of the field and chop out plants on the first pathway. Go up to the front of the next range and cut out a 3 foot pathway that straddles the plants of the first and second ranges. Use the plants as a guide as to where the path should be and not the path marks in the soil. Find a compromise between chopping out a lot of plants on each side, and going around rows that stick out. If a planter pass ends or starts too early or late and is way out, consider going around the end of that 4 rows or only chopping a few plants out so the plots will have enough plants. Chop an equal distance from each side rather than chopping along the end of the first range only. It is better to make a 2 foot pathway first, rather than chopping out a 3 foot pathway along the path marker lines in the soil and not having enough plants in a plot. Use a tape measure once in a while to check the plot length.

Plant Count

Each row is counted and then thinned to the proper number of plants. The best way to count is by holding the hoe vertically at one's side along the side of an arm and placing the tip over the whorl of a plant as one counts it. (The whorl is the central inverted cone of the plant). Pay special attention to clusters of plants to get an accurate count. Look for plants on the other side of the counted plant.Use the hoe tip to move the plants to see better. If you lose count. Start over. Do not guess. Subtract the desired row count from the actual row count and remove the difference.

E.g If the plant count is 42 and the desired row count is 30, then remove 12 plants.

The ideal scene is an evenly spaced row.

First, thin clusters of plants down to one plant. If there is a large space near a cluster of two plants, let the two plants compete with each other rather than let one plant get food meant for several plants. Next, thin out plants that are too close together. Aim for a more even spacing. Knowing which plant to remove can be a bit tricky at times but one improves with experience.

Plants should be removed by the roots rather than chopped off. Place the uprooted plant in the center of the row. Do not fling plants around the field or into the next plot. Removal of the plant with the roots prevents regrowth and the plant should die in the sun in the middle of the row.

Use the tip of the hoe to get behind and a bit under a plant, bite into the plant with the hoe or get the hoe just beneath it and pull it toward you. Hopefully, the plant will be uprooted. If the plant is cut off and the roots remain, get the remaining plant and roots removed and placed in the middle of the row.

If the plant is part of a pair of plants and you want to remove the plant farthest from you, get the hoe tip in front of that plant and push the plant out, making sure the roots come out too.

Weeds can be hoed out of the row a few inches on each side of the row and between plants at the same time as thinning. Be careful not to cut off plants by accident after thinning a row. When weeding, the hoe should be run shallow below the soil to cut the roots of the weeds. If the hoe is run deep, the hoer just gets tired faster. Weeds can also be killed by covering them with soil so soil can be pushed or pulled up along the row as well. Soil around a plant can also help support it if a bit of a hole was dug next to it getting roots of another plant out. Fill any gouges made in the soil.

It is best if the group works together to finish one range at a time. A person can start at each side of a range and work towards the middle. The supervisor/leadhand should set a good example of workmanship but ensuring that things are being done properly is his/her top priority. Working together with the group rather than standing around is best for morale. Checks can be made every so often as the work progresses.

The supervisor should discourage a lot of banter in the field as it can lead to mistakes in counting. Conversation not directly applicable to the work should be saved for breaks.

Staking the Plots Edit

Stakes may already have been placed on the sides of the YIELD TRIAL field as per the planting plan and may need to be moved to a better position in front of the first plant of a row. The stake should be placed on an angle between 45 and 60 degrees and far enough ahead of the first plant that it is not going to interfere with the growth of that plant.

The stakes are about 8 in. x 1 in. x 1/4 in.. Stakes painted white are nice but not necessary. The plot numbers can be put on at the office using black Sharpie markers. Test any new permanent marker to be used on stakes in the field before using it to mark plot numbers. Sharpie markers almost seem to create a tatoo in the wood so the numbers stay on after a lot of weathering.

Lay the stakes for one side of the field out on a table with the pointed end on the right and the square end on the left and write the plot numbers on from left to right as per the planting plan and bundle these stakes together from first range to last range. Do all the plot numbers for the other side of the field and bundle them from last range to first range. Do plot numbers between the two sides. Decide if going to use stakes at every fifth plot# or every fifth file/paper column/field row. For every fifth plot, the stakes will be staggered in the field and if the range width is not a multiple of five then there might be stakes beside each other on the sides.. For every fifth file/paper column/field row, the stake in the next range is up the center of the two rows but the first row of the plot in the next range is on the other side of the next range plot because of the serpentine direction of the ranges.

Staking by files(paper columns/field rows is best to work with in the field, but makes numbering the stakes difficult if not worked out beforehand.

Put the stakes in for one side moving from first range to last and then put the other side stakes in moving from last to first range. Put in the stakes between the sides.

Vigour Notes Edit

Notes on vigour can be taken once the plots are thinned and staked. The vigour rating is based on how strong and healthy the plants look. A plot of skinny yellow plants with lots of gaps where plants did not emerge would get the worst rating while one with dark green, strong, tall plants would get the best rating. The rating is 1 for the best and 5 for the worst.

Notetaking Edit

There should be only one set of data for each 2-row plot. Don’t record data for each single row. If one row of a two-row plot is earlier than another, consult the breeder as to how to rate the plot. Record to this file what you are instructed to do. If one row silks on day 70 and the other on day 72, you might record this as silking on day 71.

50% Anthesis - I may be wrong about this, but I believe the 50% refers to how much of the tassel is shedding anthers rather than the percentage of plants shedding pollen. You will be looking at about 60 tassels very quickly for each plot so if the majority of them are shedding anthers and have anthers hanging from the branches of the tassel, that should be good enough.

50% Silking (mid silk) - I’m not sure about this one either. Basically, if you have a few inches of silk showing on the majority of the plants in the plot that should be good enough to mark down. Sometimes, plants on one side of the plot will silk first for some reason and I’m not sure how you should rate the entire plot but the other side will pop out withinna day so you can split the difference and use the average.

It’s best to enter data into the computer as soon as possible after it’s recorded in the notebook. If you can use a pocket pc in the field, it would not be necessary to print a notebook or enter the numbers manually into the office computer.

In EXCEL97 one can set the cursor to move down one cell after entering a number into a cell and pressing return. So one can enter the data from the notebook straight down the page.

In VP-Planner there were some quirks due to the lineless nature of the spreasheets, the filling of cells with dashes to make notebook lines and the lack of movement of the cursor in the down direction except by pressing the down arrow. The data was all entered at harvest time after sorting the spreadsheet rows by plot number to get all the notebook lines together and deleted so they were out of the way. Then one could enter the data without having to press the arrow key several times to move the cursor past the lines.

A VP-PLANNER macro was created based on an example in the VP-Planner book that allowed me to enter the data in one area on the spreadsheet and avoid using the cursor. This macro transferred the entered data to columns on the right hand side.

THE RED GREEN SHOW Edit

Tagging Plots Edit

Yield trial plots were tagged only for showing the plots to company representatives. This was usually in mid to late September. The tagging was done about a few days before a visit. The tags were 1 in. x 11 in. strips of heavy construction paper (>24 lbs) on which the Plot #'s and Company given variety name or pedigree were written neatly with a black SHARPIE permanent ink marker. One year the information was printed on labels and the labels put on the tags. With the serpentine range pattern, the plot #'s and information will be printed on different ends of the tag depending on the direction of the range. The tag was wrapped around the stalk at around 5 or 6 feet high and stapled tightly to the stalk. (Consider a looser stapling to allow for growth if the tags are placed earlier and will be on for a long time). Place the tag below the first leaf rather than around the base of the tassel since the tassel can break off taking the tag with it. If the tag sticks out too much it will bend, droop, or crease etc. and the Plot #'s will not be visible. {C}A local Government Research station used waterproof plastic pockets into which a piece of paper was placed with the plot # and any other desired info printed on it. The tag was attached to the stalk loosely with the attached nylon plastic string and fastener.

Notes Taken Prior to Harvest Edit

LODGING - There are several different types of lodging. If the plant has fallen over from the roots, it’s a case of root lodging. If the plant bent over and fell from some part of the stalk, it’s stalk lodging. You might be asked to record each type of lodging separately or together. For these notes record all lodging together. Lodging of any kind is a bad trait.

BREAKAGE - This can have more than one meaning depending on where the plant has broken. Some plants can break above the ear and this isn’t considered as bad as breakage below the ear. Generic Seeds counts the number of plants in the plot that have broken below the ear.

POPULATION - This should be whatever you thinned the plot to. If you chopped out too many plants when thinning or the seed did not germinate well, there may be a difference and it should be recorded in the notebook ASAP. If you have to, you can count the number of plants in the plots again just prior to harvest.

Information needed for compilation of Yield and Statistics Edit

1. Record the Plot# corresponding to Harvest sample #1. If possible, standardize the first plot to be harvested as PLOT #1 (Rows 1 and 2).
2. Record the direction of travel of the combine. Was the field harvested in a clockwise or counterclockwise direction?
3. Were there any deviations in the harvest pattern such as filler plots in the last range being removed prior to the harvesting of the rest of the field? Did the combine start at a different range on one side of the field?
4. Specify the plot length.
5. Specify the row width (E.g. 22",30",36")
6. Every plot number should have an Entry # that can be used as a key for grouping the material to do averages and the one-way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA).

Yield Trial Harvest Edit

Mechanical - Combine

A 3 row K2 Gleaner that was converted to work with plots, was used to harvest the Yield Trials. The conversion consisted of diverting the seed harvested from a plot up to a bin where it was weighed, moisture recorded, possibly a sample taken from the scale dump and the dumped corn augered into the large combine harvest bin. {C}The Combine driver would harvest a plot and then stop. The grain would come up into the bin and the weight and moisture shown on a monitor and were recorded. He would wait until all the seed from the plot was in the plot bin by listening to the sound and noting how fast the scale reading was changing. When the sound was loud and like the sound of the last few kernels of popcorn bouncing around and the scale started to go down, he would press a button to record the data in the electronic data collection system and then press another button to dump the scale. Then the next plot was harvested. {C}The electronic data collection system recorded the data on a paper tape similar to a cash register tape as well as to an electronic memory. The memory was downloaded into a PDA and transferred to the office computer. The advantage of this system is the time saved from having to type all the data into a computer as well as avoiding transcription errors. {C}Unfortunately, the circuit board developed a crack that could not be fixed because the company went out of business and the research company no longer could afford to buy a new one. {C}After the electronic data collection system failed, a manual system was used. A second person sat in the combine and recorded the weight and moisture on a data collection sheet with preprinted Harvest #'s and 2 blank columns for the weight and moisture. This person also placed a Harvest # tag on the top of the sample pulled out by the combine operator. The Harvest# tag was prepared before starting. It was just a cardboard tag about 4 in. x 1 in. with a number stamped on one end and a hole punched in the other end. The numbers were from 1 to the number of plots being harvested. The harvest tags were strung in order through the punched hole onto the bottom wire of a coat hanger that was hung in the combine. The numbers face the data recorder. The tag was ripped off the hanger and put on top of the sample just before the combine operator put the sample into the small red mesh bag. The sample was obtained by placing a pan below the scale and then dumping the scale. This sample was put into a red mesh bag together with a harvest # tag. Every round the samples were dropped off and a second moisture test was done on each sample as a check using a portable moisture tester or the Dickey John moisture tester. The reason for the double check is that the moisture tester on the combine is most accurate only for one of three possible settings and is usually set on the middle setting. This might be a specific range of say, 20% to 30% moisture. If the sample is above or below that range the recorded value may be incorrect. The Harvest# data sheet should be formatted with half a round or one full round per page so the page can be given to the person doing the second moisture test together with the samples. There should be a second Moisture column to record the sample moisture taken with the portable tester or Dickey John moisture tester. Try to order the columns in the order that they will be filled. If the monitor in the com bine is read from top to bottom, list the moisture then the weight. If it is easier to remember the weight first , then put the weight column before the moisture column. 2 half rounds on one page help make sure things are in order since the bottom of the page is the end of a half round (last or first range). Sometimes wet corn would get stuck coming into the bin and mix with corn from other plots changing their moisture reading. The wet corn had to be cleared from the top of the bin and dumped before a new plot was harvested. So design fields to avoid this problem when possible by putting late material in a separate field.

A video showing a Wintersteiger plot combine harvesting two rows of a plot can be found on YouTube here:

( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XN1Mv6vifmw&NR=1 )

Pattern of Harvest (Combine) Edit

The combine operator first removes the headlands and guard rows. Then work begins from plot #1 whenever possible.

The combine operator harvests plot#1 then waits for the seed to come into the plot bin and be recorded and possibly sampled. Then the driver moves ahead to the next plot that will be in the next range behind the range of plot#1. The combine operator continues to move in the same direction until reaching the headlands at the other end of the field. Then the operator begins harvest again on the other side of the field going in the opposite direction. If the combine operator always starts at PLOT#1, then the match of PLOT#'s to Harvest#'s will be the same regardless of whether PLOT#1 is on the right or left.

Manual Harvest

If the location is small, or too far away to make transporting the combine there profitable, a manual method of harvest can be used. A data collection station is set up midway along the length of the field on one side. Here the preharvest data is recorded and cobs from a plot are put into a bucket and weighed and a sample of seed is sliced offf the cob with a plane and a moisture sample taken.

Preharvest counts are taken for the plant population, # of broken stalks, lodging etc.

For the harvesting, the workers are given belts with hooks on the left and right sides. Small mesh bags are hung on the hooks. Cobs from each plot are put into the mesh bag(s) and picked up by another person who takes them to the data collection place. Tags are put into the mesh bags with the PLOT# or the plots are done in numerical order one by one. The cobs are weighed with a simple spring scale and a sample of seed is planed from the cob for a moisture test of the seed.

You might find some of Robert W. Jugenheimer’s notes in CORN: IMPROVEMENT, SEED PRODUCTION, and USES to be of interest regarding manual harvest. It involved a large amount of number crunching.

Getting the Data Together in the Computer Edit

If you have an automated data collection system, getting the harvest data into the computer is probably not a problem. Otherwise, you need to get all the Harvest data sheets for the Yield trial field together and get the data entered manually into the computer. I entered the harvest data and then used a match of harvest numbers to plot numbers to match the harvest data to the notebook data (see Linking the Harvest Number and Plot Number below).

First, I entered only the second moisture number and the plot weight. Usually I entered all of one trait at a time going down the sheet rather than 2 traits per harvest number. Then I added a list that matches the harvest numbers to plot numbers to the left of the harvest data. Keep all the data per harvest number together in one row in as many columns as observed traits, then sort by plot number. Then I added the harvest data to the notebook data. Lastly, I added the yield column and inserted a formula into the cells of the yield column to compute the yields. For in-house tests one could also add a column for the performance index or any other index you want to use to sort by.

Linking the Harvest Number and Plot Number

Manual Method (tedious so avoid if possible)

The Yield Trial plots were not harvested in Plot Number order. This saved wear and tear on the combine's expensive clutch and avoided excessive movement backing up and moving forward for each plot.

The headlands, side guard rows and last range filler plots were removed prior to the start of harvest/data collection.

The combine started from one corner of the field and moved straight up through the ranges to the other end. Then the combine moved to the other side of the field and harvested the plots going through the ranges in reverse order.

The combine then moved to the other side in an overall kind of circular pattern.

Usually, the first plot was Plot #1 but there could be access problems that required starting from a different corner.

Be sure to note down exactly where the combine started and if any ranges or filler plots were removed prior to data collection.

I used the Planting Plan and Excel's Datafill/Series Fill to match the Plot numbers to the Harvest numbers.

• Using Excel's datafill/sequence completion feature, expand the Planting Plan across a worksheet to show all plot numbers using datafill.Note that plot numbering might not be sequential for all ranges.
• Use a macro or manually add a blank column between each column of plot numbers.
• Pretend to be the combine and use datafill/sequence completion to fill the empty columns to the left of the plot numbers with the Harvest numbers in their proper sequence going up on one side and down on another.Note that there might be filler plots removed prior to data collection and alter harvest numbering appropriately.
• Strip off (cut) the Harvest and Plot numbers in pairs to create a two column list of Harvest and plot numbers down the worksheet.
• Attach Harvest number data to this list
• Sort the list by Plot number
• Use the sorted list to match Harvest Number and Plot Number data.

Automated method

This would involve use of a mathematical equation or algorithm.

Currently I only have crude algorithms for a field that has Plot #1 in the lower left corner and the combine starts at Plot #1.It can't handle cutting out filler plots yet but this would probably be done using math from computer graphics and maybe transformation matrices and group theory.

• To get a list of the Plot-Harvest pairs would just involve looping through the equations and printing the results to a worksheet or a text file.

• Find Harvest number given the Plot Number.

C is the number of plots wide (Columns).

R is the number of Ranges.

Px is the column number or x-coordinate of the Plot#.

Py is the range number or y-coordinate of the Plot#.

Py = Int ((Plot# -1)/C) + 1

if Py mod 2 =0, then

Px = C - ((Plot# -1) mod C)

if Py mod 2 =1, then

Px = ((Plot# -1) mod C) + 1

If Px <= ((C+1)/2), then

Harvest# = 2*R*Px - 2*R + Py

else:

Harvest# = 2((C*R - R*Px) + R) - Py + 1

• E.g. Given C = 5, R = 6, Plot# = 21, find the Harvest Number

Py= Int((PLOT# - 1)/C) + 1

Py = Int((21 - 1)/5) + 1

Py = 5

Py mod 2 = 1

Px = ((Plot#  - 1) mod C) + 1

Px =(21 - 1) mod 5 + 1

Px = 1

((C+1)/2) = 3

Px < 3

H = 2*R*Px - 2*R + Py

Harvest# = 2*6*1 - 2*6 + 5

Harvest# = 5

• Find the Plot Number given the Harvest Number.

C is the number of plots wide (Columns).

R is the number of Ranges.

Hx is the column number or x-coordinate of the Harvest#.

Hy is the range number or y-coordinate of the Harvest#.

Column Index (C.I.) = (Int (Harvest# - 1)/R) +1

The Column Index (C.I.) is the sequential order of a column in the harvest sequence.
Hx is the actual positional order of the column from left to right.

n = ((Int((Harvest# - 1)/R) + 1) +1)/2)

BEING WORKED ON - make simpler and easier to do.

CALCULATE HARVEST SEQUENCE ORDER OF REQUIRED COLUMN

?? if C.I. mod 2 = 0, then

USE OF F ABANDONED

FIND Hy

CALCULATE WHETHER COLUMN WAS HARVESTED UP OR DOWN

CALCULATE ACTUAL Hx

Hx = C - (n - 1) or (C - n + 1)

else

Hx = n, where n = Int((F + 1)/2)

??  If C.I. mod 2 =1 then,

CALCULATE Hy

If Hx <= Int ((C+1)/2), (column harvested UP) then

Hy = ((Harvest# - 1) mod R) + 1

If Hx > Int ((C+1)/2), (column harvested DOWN) then

Hy = R - ((Harvest# - 1) mod R)

CALCULATE PLOT #.

if Hy mod 2 = 1 (range direction is same as second range), then

Plot # = (Hy - 1)*C + Hx

if Hy mod 2 = 0 (range direction is same as first range), then

Plot# = (C*Hy - Hx)+ 1

Yield Calculation Edit

The company has reported yield results in both kg/ha and bu/ac. The basic formula is just to calculate the amount of corn there would be if the sample was dried to 15.5% and then to keep the dimensions correct, divide by the area of the plot. (Since division is the inverse of multiplication, multiply by the inverse of the plot size in the units of area used. ) Two formulas have been used. I have used a dried moisture of 15.5% here but due to the rounding feature in VP-Planner, a value of 15 will give the same results. Formula 1 (kg/ha)

Dryweight in kg / plot size in ha

or

Dryweight * inverse of plotsize in ha.

For a plot that is 1/1000 of a hectare:

(Plotwt - (Plotwt * ((Moist -15.5)/100)))*1000

Plotwt is the Plotweight measured in kg. Moist is the recorded percentage of moisture. E.g. 21% entered as 21. The factor of 1000 is the inverse of the plot size measured in ha. The plot was 1/1000 ha (.001 ha).

Plotsize of 1/1000 ha, Moisture:18.9%,Plotwt: 7.95 kg

(7.95 - (7.95*((18.9 - 15.5)/100)))*1000

= (7.95 - (7.95*(.034)))*1000

= (7.95 - (.27))*1000

= 7.68 * 1000

= 7680.0 kg/ha

NOTE : If the plot size is changed, the area factor must be changed to reflect this.

Formula 1 can be used for bu/ac with proper conversion factors. The weight has usually been recorded in kg (because there are fewer digits to record) and then converted to lbs in a separate spreadsheet column.

A 1/1000 ha plot for 30 in. rows

Row width = .76 m (30 in.)

Plot length = 6.6 m

2-row plot = plot width of 2 * .76m = 1.52 m

Plot area = 6.6m x 1.52m = approximately 10 square meters

1 hectare = 10,000 square meters

10 square meters = 1/1000 hectare

A plot of two rows spaced .76m (30") apart and about 6.6 m long, has an area of about 1/1000 of a hectare.

Formula 2 (bu/ac)

This formula is from pg. 43 of the GREAT LAKES HYBRIDS NOTEBOOK

GLH is an American company so the size of a bushel is different than in Canada.

This formula uses a conversion factor for SHELLED CORN of 110.465

(100 - moisture) x (110.465) x (lbs of grain) / (row length in feet) / (row width in inches) / (number of rows)

E.g. 2-row plot,Row width: 30 in., Row length: 17.4 ft, moisture: 18.9% {C}plotwt: 7.95 kg = 17.49 lbs

(100 - 18.9)*110.465*17.49/17.4/30/2 {C}= 150.1 bu/ac

If nothing was ever changed from year to year you could use

(100-moist)*lbs of grain*0.1058

but this formula tells you nothing about where 0.1058 came from, what the plot size was or what to do if the plot size is changed. It mixes numbers used to get the dry weight in with numbers used for the plot size. It also assumes the plotwt is recorded in lbs. It's just 110.465/17.4/30/2 = 0.1058

The best way to make conversions is to multiply by a factor of 1 and cancel dimensions. This can be done for chains as long as needed.

E.g. Convert 30 in. to meters

30 in x (2.54 cm/1 in.) x (1 m/100 cm) = .762 m

{C}Converting kg and lbs

1 kg = 2.2 lbs

1 lb = .454 kg

Converting Yield

1 kilogram/hectare (kg/ha) = .8922 (.9) pounds/acre

1 pound/acre = 1.121 (1.1) kilograms/hectare

See http://www.albertacorn.com/pdf_02/location_info_02.PDF

(bu/acre x test weight(industry standard is 56lb/bu))/0.892=kg/ha

Converting hectares and acres

1 hectare = 2.5 acres

1 acre = .4 hectares

Converting cm, inches, meters, feet

2.54 cm = 1 in.

100 cm = 1 m

12 in. = 1 ft

30 in. = .76 m

Lbs and bushels (See also the appended Grain Yield Conversion page) {C}56 lbs shelled corn = 1 U.S. bushel (A U.S. bushel is a volume of 35.24 litres)

Since a bushel is a volume rather than a weight, the Plotwt in kg will have to be converted to lbs and then the pounds converted to bushels using 56 lbs shelled corn = 1 U.S. bushel. This testweight or density of 56 lbs/bu isn’t always true. It can be as low as 48 lbs/bu for one variety and 60 lbs/bu for another variety. See the note I added to the appended Grain Yield Conversion page.

60 lb/bu = 67.248 kg/ha

56 lb/bu = 62.723 kg/ha

48 lb/bu = 53.801 kg/ha

32 lb/bu = 35.867 kg/ha

{C}Converting Imperial Bushels to U.S. Bushels

1 Imperial Bushel = 36.36879 litres

1 U.S. dry bushel = 35.24 litres

{C}Plot size

width x length

Row width* number of rows * plot length

Take 1/2 row width on left plus full row width(s) plus half row width on right

17 ft. 5 in. = 17.4 ft. = 1/1000 of an acre

Square feet to acre conversion

43,560 square ft in one acre

2 - 30 in. rows = 15+30+15 =60 in. = 60 in. * 1 ft/12" = 5 ft. One plot is 5 ft wide x 17.4 ft. long = 87 square ft. 43560 square feet/87 square feet = 500.689 The plot is approximately 1/500 th of an acre.

The moisture and calculated dry yield figures are reported to one decimal place.

E.g. 21.2,6082.4

The plot weight is reported to 2 decimal places.

E.g. 6.85,7.65,4.80,6.00

An example of using FORMULA 1 to obtain bu/ac when the plotwt data was recorded in kg.

Plot size of 1/500 th of an acre

so multiply the bushels obtained for 1/500 ac. by 500 to get results for one acre.

Moisture: 18.9%

Plotwt: 7.95 kg

REVISED FORMULA 1 for Bu/Ac

((PLOTWT(lbs)-(PLOTWT(lbs)*((Moist-15)/100)))/56)* AREA CONVERSION FACTOR

1) Convert the plotwt in kg to lbs in a separate spreadsheet column

2) Use the lb plotwt in the formula for the yield

3) The area conversion factor is 500 since the plot is 1/500 ac.

((17.49-(17.49*(18.9-15.5)/100))/56)*500

= (17.49-(17.49*.034))*500

= ((17.49-.595)/56)*500

= (16.89/56)*500

= .30 * 500

= 150 bu/ac

or 16.89 DRYWEIGHT(lbs) * 8.93 (500/56=8.92) = 150.8 bu/ac

Statistics Edit

This is one area that the company really needs some help with. It could be learned in only a few months but hiring or consulting a person with extensive experience would be a wise decision. The company was just number grinding with a black box called MSTAT. In CSS 590, the preferred statistics program is called SAS.

There are three main areas where statistics are of benefit.

1. The design of yield trials and any experiments the company may do.
2. The analysis of these tests particularly when it involves decisions regarding selection based on only a small amount of data. The king of Agricultural Statistics is R.A. Fisher and his methods are the standard methods.However, an understanding of Bayesian Analysis as taught by Edwin Jaynes in Probability Theory: The Logic of Science would be useful in the future.
3. The use of phenotypic ratios in genetics.

It’s a bit difficult to find material on experimental design that is written in plain concrete english. Often the material is too general and theoretical to see how to apply it specifically to the company's work. A good specific work that is easy to read and understand is Driscoll's "Plant Sciences " Ch. 27-31 pp.183-200 and Appendices 2-3.Unfortunately it's out of print.

Chapter:

27 Experimental Design

28 Analysis of Variance

29 Completely Randomized Design

30 Randomized Complete Block

31 Factorial Experiment

Appendix 1. F table (simplified)

Appendix 3. t table (simplified)

Plant Sciences: Production,Genetics and Breeding

by Colin J. Driscoll

ISBN 0-13-677048-7

SB 123.D75 1990

633-dc20

Part V Experimental Design and Statistical Analysis

Ch. 27-31

Copyright 1990 Ellis Horwood Ltd. (Currently out of print)

The Maize Yield trials were usually a Randomized Complete Block design with 2 or 3 replicates. Prior to 1995 there were often tests with 6 replicates with CV's usually of around 11% to 12%. Three or more replicates at several locations would be better than 2 replicates in one location but there have been budgetary reasons given by many companies for decreasing the number of replicates. An ANOVA was done on each test primarily only to determine a C.V. for the yield and moisture. This isn’t the proper way to use ANOVA. To begin with, ANOVA is only valid for tests with 3 or more replicates.

Yield reports grouped the data by variety (entry) giving for each variety, the yield for each plot and an average yield for the variety.

The company has not been very interested in extreme accuracy. Averages have been good enough and often from only 2 2-row plots. A C.V. value of 15% was used to decide if the trial was ok or not. Any trial with a CV over 15% was considered a bad trial and the data was considered invalid. Fisher's Least Significant Difference LSD was not used but it's commonly used by researchers and the company will use it in the future.

Any introductory statistics text has information on ANOVA, Randomized Complete Block Experimental Design, the use of F tests and Fisher’s Least Significant Difference as well as other multiple comparison procedures. University libraries also have numerous texts on Experimental Design, however, the textbook information is often presented with too many bells and whistles and for some other field of work.I recommend Driscoll’s chapters listed above (PLANT SCIENCES) as an introduction. I also recommend the use of a computer as the number crunching gets very involved.

ANOVA

MSTAT was used to obtain CV's for the moistures and the yields in each test. The data had to be formatted to an ascii (.PRN) file with only the numbers to be used and no text or headings.

MSTAT had a nice print out of the ANOVA and the averages for each variety. This was redundant, however, because the averages were computed and printed out in a different format for the final report.

EXCEL has an ANOVA function but I've never tried it on a test with several replicates.

A way needs to be found to replace MSTAT. It has many of the functions one might want but the interface, proprietary file format, and lack of customizability were strikes against it.

AVERAGES

In the final report, all of the data for a variety was listed and averaged. The report was made from a Spreadsheet Notebook page stripped to essentials into which the observed data had been entered and to which the harvest data was then matched, added, and a row added for the averages. The row for the averages of each of the varieties and a blank space or two below it was added using a macro that inserted a preformatted averaging row at the proper place.

NOTE that there is a redundancy here since the MSTAT ANOVA print-out calculates and shows entry averages as well.The problem is that the averages are also wanted in a different format in the final report.

Harvest Index Edit

A harvest index is a numerical value that is used by the breeder to assist in the selection of lines to advance based on harvest data. A simple harvest index is to divide the yield of each variety by its moisture content at the time of harvest. This may be referred to as the Performance Index, but you may also see it referred to as just the INDEX.

• Performance Index (PI) = Yield (bu/ac) / % moisture (P.I. to 3 decimal places)
• Adjusted PI = ((100 - % broken stalks) x (yield)) / % moisture

The adjusted PI is the grain yield on standing plants

• Kg/Ha% or Kg%= (Yield of variety / Yield of Standard 1) x 100
• INDEX% or IND% = (Index of variety / Index of standard 1) x 100
• COMBINED = Kg/Ha% + INDEX%
• PERCENT = Avg Index Variety / ((Avg Index Standard 1 + Avg Index Standard 2) / 2) x 100 (to one decimal place)

These last 4 indices were used on old reports of advanced line and standard trials where two standards were used such as P3979 and P3984. Standard 1 was P3984 and standard 2 was P3979.The averages report for each test showed the average INDEX (P.I.) for each variety, and was sorted by PERCENT values. The data pages for these tests included an INDEX calculation for each plot and an average INDEX for each Entry. Standard 2 was almost always at the top of the list. Anything of interest was between the two standards. By circling the yield value, even if the percent value was low, note was made of any variety with a yield greater than the highest yielding standard. Note was also made of varieties with average stalk breakage of greater than 4.5 plants by x'ing out the breakage value. Also noted were varieties with an average plot population of less than 50 by circling the population value. Moistures below 12.0 on the Breeder's report were marked by the computer with an asterisk and the moisture value and the weight value was x'ed in pencil. In one test this involved a variety with one plot at 17.6 and a the second plot at 5.5 giving an average of 11.5*. The average plot weight for the variety was 1.9 kg which was low.In this same test, standard 2 was on top as usual but had an average moisture of 11.4*. One plot was 12.0 the other was 10.9. Average plot weight was 2.9.

Reports for a test prior to 1995 consisted of two parts. {C}Part 1) A listing of all of the data for each plot grouped by variety with averages for the data on each variety and an index value based on standard 1. In standard trials there were 24 plots per test.With 2 replicates per variety. This was printed out on two pages showing 12 varieties per page.

Part 2) This was the report used by the breeder for making decisions. It was one page showing all of the averages for the 24 varieties including the average index value as well as a PERCENT value. The data was sorted by percent values with the highest percent value at the top.

Yield Trial Report Edit

The final Yield Trial Report consists of 3 sections. Section one is a summary of what was done and of the environmental conditions during the yield trial. Section two is the formatted Data Report. Section 3 is the Statistical Analysis print out and any comments regarding the interpretation of the data. There are numerous Yield Trial Reports available on the internet. I have included with these notes 2 pages from the 2002 Dryland Corn Performance Test entitled AGRONOMIC and TEST INFORMATION: GRANGER that is a good example of the kind of information that would be in section one of your report. A more formal and complete report is the 5 page PERFORMANCE OF CORN HYBRIDS IN LOUISIANA, 1999 by the Louisiana Agricultural Experiment Station (LAES) included with these notes for an idea of the format for sections 1 and 3 of the report. In addition to this report there would be appendices with the data and statistical analysis computations. Note that unlike the LAES, you will not be including a recommendations section for your clients.

{C}Section 1

Section 1 is a 1 page cover letter prepared with a word processing program.

In this cover letter be sure to include the following data:

0) Particulars of the test.

1. ) The date the Yield Trial was planted
2. ) The date the Yield Trial was harvested
3. ) The rates and form of N,P and K applied to the Yield Trial Field
4. ) ??? A very brief summary of how the plots were prepared
5. ) The herbicide applied and the rate used
6. ) Information regarding the environmental conditions during the test
7. ) Statement of any mistakes made resulting in incomplete or misleading data for a plot
8. ) Explanation of any unusual results

{C}To: BIG YELLOW SEED CO.

Cornland, CANADA

ATTN: Plant Breeder, Mr. I.M. Pioneer

Dear Mr. Pioneer

Please find enclosed the results of the 2004 BIG YELLOW SEED CO. Yield Trials at Location1 and Location2 in Somebody’sprovince, Canada.

The 2004 BIG YELLOW SEED CO. Yield Trial was planted May 5,2004 and harvested on October 5, 2004.

Nitrogen was applied to the field prior to planting at a rate of ___ lbs per acre in the form of broadcast Urea pellets.

Fertilizer was applied at planting at the following rates:

N: _____

P: _____

K: _____

The plots were thinned to 60 plants per 2-row plot.

Herbicide "X" was applied at a rate of ______

Environmental conditions were excellent for growing corn this year. {C}______ mm of rainfall and _______ heat units were received during the growing season.

You will notice that the population rates of Plots #65-#70 are less than 50 plants per plot. Unfortunately, due to circumstances beyond our control, these plots were in a low spot in the field and were drowned. Also, due to a cultivation error, data is not available for Plot #275.

Generic Test Co. apologizes for the inconvenience caused by the unavailable data and is refunding to you not just the contracted price for each affected plot but the price of all other plots of affected entries in the test. Corrective measures have been taken to prevent these errors occurring in the future and Generic Test Co. hopes that you will consider allowing us to serve you in the coming year.

Sincerely,

Joe Manager

Generic Test Co.

NOTE: I have shown only N,P, and K  rather than just N or a specific nitrate formula, P2O5 and K2O because the form of the fertilizers and the method of application can be different.  There are many forms of nitrogen, for example, that can be applied with numerous pros and cons for each. We would have preferred multiple applications of nitrogen in various forms (liquid, granular, foliar application, side-banded, ammonium nitrate, ammonium phosphate, etc) during the growing season but there was a high probability that rainfall would keep equipment out of the field so it was decided to broadcast Urea (46-0-0) and place midrow an (N-P-K) granular fertilizer at planting time. Some local agricultural producers applied anhydrous ammonia which is inexpensive but there are often problems related to applicator nozzles clogging with dirt that made its use for research work somewhat questionable if we could not ensure uniform placement.

There are also other elements such as boron, zinc , sulphur or maybe even vitamin E that one can apply with the fertilizer.  I have forgotten the exact formula for the bulk side-banded fertilizer placed with the seed at planting time but an actual  (N,P,K) example would be nice. E.g. 20-20-20 or 18-51-20). Perhaps someone might contribute a formula being used in practice. I have one from a farm magazine article somewhere. This is part of the Agronomist/Field worker hat. A rule of thumb is to apply a pound of nitrogen for every bushel of desired yield.

http://schools-wikipedia.org/wp/f/Fertilizer.htm

{C}SECTION 2 {C}Yield Trial Data Summary

The basic format for this summary is to group the data by entry # in numerical order showing the data obtained from each replicate of the entry and averages for that entry.

Each page should have a header showing the company name and year of the Trial, date planted, location, and date harvested. {C}Information identifying varieties is on the left and the data is on the right.

A possible ordering of the data column headings is: {C}Entry #, Plot #, Company name, Variety name/Pedigree, Vigor, Tassel, Silking, Stalk breakage above the ear, root lodging, population, Moisture,Plot Weight, test weight and Yield @ 15.5% in Kilograms per hectare or Bushels per acre. In-house reports may be preceded by an averages page containing only the averages for each entry and harvest indices that rank the varieties from best to worst. This is followed by pages grouped by entry # showing the raw data for each replicate of an entry and the averages for the entry. Unusually low populations or above average stalk breakage can be indicated in red on reports. In-house data reports may have different columns and possibly a harvest index column as well.

In addition to the formal Data Summary Report, one may be asked to include copies of the Field Notebook.

{C}SECTION 3

This is a print out of the Analysis of Variance (Anova), Coefficients of Variance, LSDs etc and any information pertaining to the statistical analysis of the trial. CV’s greater than 15% are considered to indicate bad experiments whose results are not reliable. In the LAES 1999 Yield Trial Report you will see in the Results and Discussion section that the tests at Alexandria were discarded because the CV’s were greater than 20%.

Yield Trial Appendices Edit

• A:Yield Trial Terminology

{C}

• B:EDGAR: Experimental Design Generator and Randomiser (7 pages)

(http://www.edgarweb.org.uk/)

(http://www.agric.gov.ab.ca/crops/fieldexp/experim.html)

• C:LSU AgCenter

(http://www.lsuagcenter.com/en/crops_livestock/crops/corn/Variety_Trial/)

http://www.plantmanagementnetwork.org/pub/cm/trials/2004/corn/Thomason.xls

• D:GRANGER TRIAL (2 pages)

(http://www.tamu.edu/croptesting/02%20Corn/Agronomics/grangercornag.pdf)

• E:COBBLING THE NOTEBOOK PAGES TOGETHER (misc. pics)

Need to find Test design text these pics go with {C} {C}

UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN

The Department of Agronomy at the University of Wisconsin-Madison {C}http://agronomy.wisc.edu/index.php?c=1

Fall Field Scouting and Test Plot Evaluation {C}http://corn.agronomy.wisc.edu/WCM/1999/W071.htm

Methods for Calculating Corn Yields {C}http://corn.agronomy.wisc.edu/WCM/2001/W095.htm

Breeding Corn for Silage http://cornbreeding.wisc.edu/

There is a lot of great high-quality information available from the University of Wisconsin but the focus is on agricultural producers. Surf and enjoy.

{C}Yield Trial Reports

There are lots of online Yield Trial Reports

• http://www.gov.mb.ca/agriculture/crops/specialcrops/pdf/2006corntrials.pdf

• 2006 Louisiana Corn Hybrid Performance Trial Summary

http://www.lsuagcenter.com/MCMS/RelatedFiles/%7B9989D75F-36E9-4475-8A71-9ED537AE726E%7D/CornSummary2006.pdf

This is an excellent example of the cover page information summarizing the agronomic information regarding the Trial.

• http://www.albertacorn.com/acc_hybrid.html(no longer available)

Experimental Design

• Experimental Design in Agriculture/CSS 490/590 Oregon State University

Professor Kling's lectures

http://cropandsoil.oregonstate.edu/classes/CSS590/

• Texas Cooperative Extension Notes

(http://sanangelo.tamu.edu/agronomy/resultdemo/)

Sample Table of Contents pages from old Yield Trial Notebooks

A Proposed Standard Method for Illustrating Pedigrees of Small Grain Varieties by Purdy,L.H.,Loegering,W.Q.,Konzak,C.F.,Peterson,C.J.,Allan,R.E. CROP SCIENCE, Vol. 8: July-August, 1968,(Pp. 405-406)

ICIS-CIMMYT modified Purdy notation in GMSInput.pdf,(Pg. 7 of 14)

Michael Fields Agricultural Institute

---

BOOKS

• Robert W. Jugenheimer, "Corn: Improvement, Seed Production, and Uses" Krieger Publishing Company; Reprint edition (February 1986)

  (ISBN 0898746620)

The 1950's FAO version is the first book I could find at a University regarding the work I did but the information I was seeking was never given in detailed form and was only mentioned in a Miscellaneous section as a trivial aside.I found the Reprint edition in a public library but the references to adressograph plates and punch cards are outdated. There are some good photos of some relevant things. This publication has lots of good information and might be a good place to start.

• Managing Trials and Reporting Data for CIMMYT's International Maize Testing Program

http://books.google.ca/books/about/Managing_Trials_and_Reporting_Data_for_C.html?id=WT7iNw2rRzgC&redir_esc=y

http://books.google.ca/url?client=ca-print-cimmyt&format=googleprint&num=0&channel=BTB-ca-print-cimmyt+BTB-ISBN:9706480374&q=http://repository.cimmyt.org/xmlui/bitstream/handle/10883/697/13201.pdf%3Fsequence%3D1&usg=AFQjCNFTQDWaCIS4619Dek4Jr7FccAA_eA&source=gbs_buy_r

• Manjit S. Kang, "Handbook of Formulas and Software for Plant Geneticists and Breeders", (2003), Food Products Press and The Haworth Press Inc.

  (ISBN 1-56022-948-9) (hard)

  (ISBN 1-56022-949-7) (soft)

  (Dewy Decimal #: QK981.5 .H36 2003)

Table of Contents, Preface and all of Chapter 1 available on internet

Cover page, Table of Contents and Preface (9 pages)

':(Dr. Kang's Handbook of Formulas is NOT what I'm seeking and is more for the Breeder. The reason given for its publication, however, is the same as my own))'

Note the statements regarding software in obsolete DOS form, scattered research software(something different used by different research groups all over the world,(usually a computer science graduate student program often on a different University mainframe in a multiplicity of programming languages and commercial software products)).

ReferencesEdit

• [Research] This is a You Tube video entitled "Crop Research". It's an interview with a student containing on-the-job video. (check out the funnel/pan!)
• Prelude to Foundation

• FAO Grassland Species Profile of Maize [8]

• Maize Phenotypes: [9]

• Buckler Lab for Maize Genetics and Diversity [10]

• Maize Breeding and Genetics at Guelph University [11]
• Texas A&M University Quantitative Genetics and Maize Breeding

• Corn Breeding [12]

• Fields of Study: Corn Breeding with Professor Bill Tracy
• Seed We Need http://www.seedweneed.com/index-2.html

• Genome Island: A User's Guide (Greenhouse and Gardens at Genome Island)
• GREEN BOOK: Walter R. Fehr and Henry H. Hadley, "Hybridization of Crop Plants". 1980, American Society of Agronomy Inc., and the Crop Science Society of America Inc.

  (ISBN 0-89118-034-6)

  (Library of Congress: SB 123.H9)

  Notes: Pollinations, Corn, Pp. 299 - 312, Common Bean, Pp. 273 - 284, Triticale, Pp. 681 - 694, Barley, Pp. 189-202

• Neal C. Stoskopf (University of Guelph), "Plant Breeding", Westview Press, (ISBN 0-8133-1764-9)

  (SB 123 S89 1993)

  Notes: On the subject of Plant Breeding, there are quite a few textbooks available on University, College and Public Library shelves.I found this one at a small college.These texts are not what I'm seeking at the moment.

• Colin J. Driscoll, "Plant Sciences: Production, Genetics and Breeding" Nov 1990, Ellis Horwood Ltd, (ISBN 0136770487)

  (ASIN 0136770487)

  Notes: Experimental Design, Analysis of Variance,Completely Randomized Design,Randomized Complete Block, Factorial Experiment, Chi squared table, t table, I like Mr. Driscoll's text the best but it's out of print.It also doesn't get into the mechanics of the work.

• Arnel Hallauer, "Specialty Corns (2nd Ed.)", 2000, CRC, (ISBN 0849323770)

  Notes: Ch. 14 Temperate Corn - Background, Behavior and Breeding by Forrest Troyer, Notes on breeding methods, pollination work, drying seed etc. ***), Breeding White Endosperm Corn (39 pages)

• Field Scouting Guide (149 pages)

(Dewey Decimal: 632.9 FIE)

http://www.gov.mb.ca/agriculture/crops/cropproduction/gaa01d02.html

Note: The information is specific to the Province of Manitoba, Canada

Available from:

Food Development Centre

Box 1240

810 Phillips Street

Portage la Prairie, Manitoba R1N 3J9

Phone: 204-239-3150

Fax: 204-239-3180

• Erwin L.; Leonard, Warren H.; Clark, Andrew G. LeClerg, "Field Plot Technique", 1962, Burgess Publishing Company

  (ASIN B000KBMTE4)

  Notes: I like FIELD PLOT TECHNIQUE the most so far.

• Gomez and Gomez, "Statistical Procedures for Agricultural research 2nd Ed.", 1984, John Wiley & Sons

  (ISBN 0-471-87092-7)

Field Corn Seed Crop Inspection Procedures

In Canada, when the Breeder's seed is released to be commercially grown by seed production companies and sold as certified seed, it must be inspected by licensed or official inspectors. The document mentioned below contains good information that one should be aware of as a maize field technician and it has some good illustrations as well.

SWI 142.1.2-1 SEED PROGRAM SPECIFIC WORK INSTRUCTIONS FIELD CORN SEED CROP INSPECTION PROCEDURES

http://www.inspection.gc.ca/english/plaveg/seesem/man/swi-cormaie.shtml

CIMMYT photo collections on Flickr [http:// http://www.flickr.com/photos/cimmyt/sets/72157625289395521/with/5185296699/ Photos of Maize Land Races]

[http:// http://www.flickr.com/photos/cimmyt/collections/72157624341419882/ Maize and its Relatives]

Journals ArticlesEdit

• "A Proposed Standard Method for Illustrating Pedigrees of Small Grain Varieties", Purdy,L.H.,Loegering,W.Q.,Konzak,C.F.,Peterson,C.J.,Allan,R.E.,

CROP SCIENCE, Vol. 8: July-August, 1968,(Pp. 405-406):[ISI]

• "A Batch processing download tool for historical crosses and pedigree selection data", William H. Eusebio

http://cropwiki.irri.org/icis/images/6/63/GMSInput.pdf

http://www.unsoed.ac.id

ICIS-CIMMYT modified Purdy notation. See page 7 of 14 for an example of a CIMMYT maize pedigree.

Maize Traits (http://mbp.generationcp.org/confluence/display/MBP/Activity+2.1.2+-+Maize+Traits+for+Fieldbooks)

Drought Tolerant Maize for Africa (http://dtma.cimmyt.org/)

some information on writing pedigrees is in a document regarding CIMMYT's Excel add-on Fieldbook software.