Electroculture
Field trial planner: randomized complete block design
For fair comparisons in the field: each treatment occurs once in every block, and its position is drawn at random. That way, differences in the soil do not distort the result. The plan is reproducible with the seed and can be downloaded as a CSV for the measurements.
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Abbreviations and symbols on this page (6)
- Randomized complete block design (RCBD)
- The area is divided into blocks; each treatment occurs exactly once in every block, and its position within the block is drawn at random.
- Block (replicate)
- Group of neighbouring plots with conditions as similar as possible (soil, slope, shade). Differences between blocks then do not distort the comparison.
- Control
- Untreated plot for comparison; randomized just like the others, not placed at a convenient edge.
- Randomize
- Assign at random so that no treatment systematically gets better or worse positions.
- Seed
- Number from which the random layout is generated; same seed = same plan, so the plan stays reproducible.
- CSV
- Spreadsheet file with semicolon-separated columns; opens in Excel, LibreOffice and statistics software.
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12 plots: 3 treatments × 4 blocks, about 360 m² in total.
Block 1
B1-P1Variante B
B1-P2Kontrolle
B1-P3Variante A
Block 2
B2-P1Kontrolle
B2-P2Variante B
B2-P3Variante A
Block 3
B3-P1Variante A
B3-P2Variante B
B3-P3Kontrolle
Block 4
B4-P1Kontrolle
B4-P2Variante A
B4-P3Variante B
KontrolleVariante AVariante B
| ID | Blocks (replicates) | Plot | Treatment |
|---|---|---|---|
| B1-P1 | 1 | 1 | Variante B |
| B1-P2 | 1 | 2 | Kontrolle |
| B1-P3 | 1 | 3 | Variante A |
| B2-P1 | 2 | 1 | Kontrolle |
| B2-P2 | 2 | 2 | Variante B |
| B2-P3 | 2 | 3 | Variante A |
| B3-P1 | 3 | 1 | Variante A |
| B3-P2 | 3 | 2 | Variante B |
| B3-P3 | 3 | 3 | Kontrolle |
| B4-P1 | 4 | 1 | Kontrolle |
| B4-P2 | 4 | 2 | Variante A |
| B4-P3 | 4 | 3 | Variante B |
- Define measured variables and measurement dates before the trial and record them the same way for all plots.
- The CSV file contains empty columns for the measurements; it can be loaded directly into spreadsheet and statistics software.
- Record losses (e.g. game damage); do not silently omit them.
Formula
Randomized complete block design (RCBD): blocks × treatments = plots; per block a random order of all treatments (Fisher-Yates shuffle with a fixed seed).
Example
3 treatments (control, variant A, variant B) in 4 blocks give 12 plots; at 3 × 10 m per plot, 360 m² of trial area.
Notes
- Lay out blocks so that soil, slope and shade are as uniform as possible within each block (Univ. Kentucky).
- Controls are randomized just like the other plots, not placed at a convenient edge.
- Avoid edge effects: harvest or measure only the middle rows of each plot (SARE).
- More blocks (replicates) make the result more reliable; four to six are common in on-farm trials (SARE).
- The tool only plans the layout; it makes no statement about the effect of a treatment.
A calculation aid for planning. The result does not replace a measurement on your own build.