TrialWizard

TrialWizard

Interested in a closer look at TrialWizard?

Ask more info, or a demo version, at trialwizard@beerepootconsultancy.com

How to install TrialWizard is explained on this page.

Here you can open the most recent Manual of TrialWizard

Our consultancy department, with trained plant breeding staff and statistical expertise, will provide advice for improving the efficiency, quality and reliability of your field trials. Our rates are competitive.

TrialWizard

Features of TrialWizard

  • Practical, easy to use. No courses or manuals needed
  • Proposes optimal trial design for each number of entries
  • Handles all alpha and lattice designs
  • Moving Mean and Nearest Neighbour
  • Easy tests on outliers in the data
  • Sophisticated Missing Plot option
  • Different trial locations into one proper statistical analysis
  • Comprehensive output of results in tables and graphs
  • Print custom labels for sowing or harvest
  • Weighing of samples
  • Search option for varieties
  • Fluent exchange with Excel
  • Interactive design of groups of trials per location, with X and Y coördinates per plot for sowing and harvest
  • No central database, just a small 40 kb file per trial
  • Low overall cost solution
Results table

Comprehensive and meaningful results table

Combine several harvest years, from different trial locations, with F-values and LSD, on one comprehensive A4 sheet of paper. All this and more, you can do in less than one minute.

You will have unmatched ease and flexibility in combining observations or yields from different years and different trials into various totals. No need to pre-define multi-local trials. Any group of trials with several varieties in common can be jointly analyzed into a proper combined statistical analysis.

Seasonal graph

Seasonal pattern of performance

If you have series of similar observations, as in monthly notes on turfgrasses, TrialWizard can print a coloured graph showing the weak and strong moments of a variety compared to one or more controls.

This option is useful to visualize adaptation of varieties to climatic regions and weather patterns.

Bar graph

USP's of different varieties

Simply show the main features in which your new cultivar stands out. This will help marketing to properly launch a variety.

Labels

Custom label printing

For sowing or harvesting, print custom labels of any size and type. You can include numbers for any conceivable sowing or harvesting sequence, even for more trials on the same field.

Field design

Interactive field trial lay-out

TrialWizard has a visual, interactive field plan lay-out tool to design more trials on the same location. You can see what fits and adapt where necessary. Each plot is indicated by its X and Y coordinate in that field. TrialWizard can print appropriate labels for sowing or harvesting all trials on that field in one operation.

Samsung

Using your smartphone for scoring plots

TrialWizard has many options to import data from files stored by hand-held computers, smartphones or other data-capture devices.

TrialWizard can for example export fieldbooks of your trials to Excel for use on smartphones. As this fieldbook is still a spreadsheet, you can record several observations per plot at the same time if you want, using your smartphone on the field.

Data importing from these Excel fieldbooks back into TrialWizard is very straightforward, making use of a special import wizard, or the Clipboard.

Data entry

Flexible data entry

Yield data and observations can be imported directly from almost any file type, e.g. Excel, Agrobase, datalogger or handheld computer files. Data can also be transferred to and from other trials or other Windows programmes using the Windows Clipboard. But there is also a convenient way to type in the data by hand.

All kinds of different entering sequences are possible, which will be re-ordered by TrialWizard to the field book sequence. After all, it is handy to make observations while walking from left to right and back again in front of the plots, whereas harvesting often goes strip by strip. And the sun or the wind may sometimes force you to start from the backside rather than the front.

If you identify an outlier or missing value, pressing the ‘Missing Plot’ button will give an estimate, based on the best mathematic approach possible. In the Analysis of Variance such missing plots will be excluded.

Nearest neighbour

Benefit of Nearest Neighbour analysis

In a field trial, a variety of factors can lead to non-uniformity of yields. These factors include effects of fertility, trends across the site, trends caused by a slope, changes in soil depth or soil properties, etc. Also, localized differences can be caused by for example the patchy occurrence of pests, diseases or weeds.

What is the added value of Nearest Neighbour analysis, if you already use an alpha design?

TrialWizard only uses Nearest Neighbour analysis if indeed it does improve the reliability of trial results over and above the analysis for incomplete block designs, such as alpha or lattice designs. Quite often in practice, LSD’s and F-values do improve considerably, using Nearest Neighbour analysis. Incomplete block designs only remove variation between blocks as a whole. So if certain blocks are consistently lower yielding, yields of all varieties within that block will be corrected to the same extent. However, Nearest Neighbour analysis can better cope with gradual trends in the field. Each plot can be corrected differently, depending on relative performance of its immediate neighbours.

No need to worry about such statistical details. If TrialWizard proposes a trial design for a replicated trial, it will automatically be suited for Nearest Neighbour analysis. And TrialWizard will find out for itself whether or not this type of analysis will improve reliability. However, if you want, you could tick an appropriate checkbox to tell TrialWizard to refrain from using Nearest Neighbour analysis. This enables you to see the improvement it brings.