28 / SEEDWORLD.COM JUNE 2017 YEARS AGO, when I was conducting yield trials as a plant breeder, drought seemed imminent a few months after planting. Rather than lose the entire trial, I requested sprinkler irrigation at the research station. Unfortunately, water pressure to the far end of the station wasn’t ideal, and there wasn’t a perfect fit for one of the pipe connections. I could see the tragedy unfolding: uneven irrigation perpendicular to the blocks in the randomized complete block design (RCBD) and thus a high covariance (CV). During the season, anyone could see an obvious gradient along the plots. The plants on the left side were shorter, and the plants on the right were taller and greener. This was a statistician’s night- mare. Due to the conditions and variabil- ity, I thought the trial might still be a loss. When I finally analyzed the trial, the CV was high. However, around that time, I came across a software program that analyzed trials with a spatial algorithm to account for trends in the field. Could it work for me? Much to my surprise it esti- mated the trends and even the exact spot where the pipes didn’t connect. The CV went down, and heritability went up. But most shocking was the adjust- ment in the means for the varieties now estimated in the absence of confounding trends (uneven irrigation). The RCBD anal- ysis gives the arithmetic mean of entries, whereas the spatial analysis estimates means in the absence of trends. Among the RCBD-ranked Top 5, three were actually low yielding. Additionally, some of those ranking lower in the trial were actually among the top yielding when estimated by this spatial data analysis. It was a night-and-day difference. Which analysis would I believe? What if I chose the wrong varieties because they were incorrectly ranked? Years later, and after further research co-published in American Statistician and Crop Science, I remain convinced that nearest neighbor analysis is a simple but powerful approach in spatial analysis. It gets its name because the nearest plots are used in the algorithm in sequence. In the years since, I’ve reanalyzed yield trial data for a number of companies, and often, the spatial analysis proved superior in selecting the best hybrids and varieties. In fact, one client reanalyzed 25 years of yield data, comparing it to the RCBD and incomplete block analyses, and came to different conclusions. This meant somewhat different deci- sions as to the release of final varieties, which are million-dollar decisions. But still, all too many companies rely on the RCBD analysis developed by Sir Ronald Fisher in the 1920s, almost as if statistical time stood still. Statistical Analyses Trapped in Time — And it Could Really Cost You IT SEEMS LIKE we are always talking about efficiency and evaluating your return on investment. Yet, for years, those in agri- culture have also made a living off of quick fixes and ingenuity. While it gets the job done and gets us through one more season, it might not be the safest or the smartest way to conduct field operations or business. Since my specialty area is fuel trailers and tanks, I have an especially keen eye when out and about on the roadways. I see growers using a slip tank in the back of their truck to fill up equipment, which works if you’re not operating far from base and don’t have multiple machines running through multiple fields. But sometimes, these tanks don’t hold enough or the pump doesn’t fuel fast enough. As an alternative, some growers opt for a non-legal tank on the back of a truck, but this poses a danger on roadways. These tanks are not intended for that, and the shifting weight can be problematic and become a liability issue. The industry has introduced a number of high quality, safe fuel trailers designed for the needs of agriculture. The new fuel trailers that have come into the market the past few years are a great solution for individuals looking for a faster way to haul larger quantities of fuel, and fuel up faster. Fuel capacity on these units ranges from 1,900 liters on the smaller units up to 3, 700 liters on the larger units. Additionally, high capacity pumps put out 30-40 gallons per minute, which substantially reduces the time required to refuel. This combined with the retract- able hose reels gives users the extra reach they are looking for to fill larger equipment and makes it quick and easy when it comes to putting the hose back in the trailer. Other options are diesel exhaust fluid (DEF) tanks/pumps, tool boxes, com- pressor and generator to give those in the field a unit designed to be a one-stop shop when it comes to servicing their equipment. While these new options provide both efficiency and a return on investment, my focus is safety. Be safe this season and be aware of what you’re doing, what you’re hauling and how you’re hauling it. Haul Safe, Be Safe KEN PIERSON MERIDIAN MANUFACTURING SALES/PRODUCT MANAGER @pierson_ken • kpierson@meridianmfg.com • Meridianmfg.com DIETER MULITZE AGRONOMIX PRESIDENT, CEO AND FOUNDER @Agronomix • mulitze@agronomix.com • agronomix.com