Chapter 2

SINGLE FACTOR EXPIREMENTS

RANDOMIZED COMPLETE
BLOCK DESIGN
 Randomized Complete Block
Design
 RCBD is one of the most widely used
experimental designs in agricultural research.

 The design is especially suited for field

experiments where the number of treatments is
not large and the experimental area has a
predictable productivity gradient.

 The primary distinguishing feature of the RCB

design is the presence of blocks of equal each of
which contains all the treatments.
 Blocking Technique
 Reduce experimental error by eliminating the
contribution of known sources of variation among
experimental units.

 This is done by grouping the experimental error units

into blocks such that variability within each block is
minimized and variability among blocks is maximized.

 With predictable pattern, plot shape and block

orientation can be chosen so that much of the
variation is accounted for by the difference among
blocks, and experimental plots within the same block
are kept as uniform as possible.
 Blocking Technique
Two important decisions for effective
blocking:

1. The selection of the source of variation

to be used as the basis for blocking.

2. The selection of the block shape and

orientation.
Randomization and Layout
Procedures:
 Step1: Divide the experimental area into r equal
blocks, where r, is the # of replications, following
the blocking technique.
Randomization and Layout
Procedures:
 Step 2: Subdivide the first block into t experimental
plots, where t is the number of treatments. Number
the t plots consecutively from 1 to t, and assign t
treatments at random to the t plots following any of
the randomization schemes for the CRD. For our
example block 1 is subdivided into six equal-sized
plots, which are numbered consecutively from top to
bottom and left to right.
Randomization and Layout
Procedures:
 Step 2: Random numbers.

o Rank the number from the

smallest to the largest, as
follows:
Randomization and Layout
Procedures:
 Step 2: Random numbers.

o Assign the six treatments to

the six plots by using the
sequence in which the
random #s occurred as the
treatment # and the
corresponding rank as the
plot number to which the
particular treatment is to be
assigned.
Randomization and Layout
Procedures:
 Step 3: Repeat step 2 completely for each of the
remaining blocks.
Analysis of Variance
Three sources of variation (among the n
observation)

1. Treatment
2. Replication
3. Experimental error

“Note that this one more than that for a CRD,

because of the addition of replication, which
corresponds to variability among blocks”.
Analysis of Variance
 Step 1: Group the data by treatments and
replications and calculate treatment totals (T),
replication totals (R), and grand total (G)
Analysis of Variance
 Step 2: Outline the analysis of variance as
follows:
Analysis of Variance
 Step 3: Using r to represent the number of
replications and t, the number of treatments,
determine the degree of freedom for each
source of variation as

Total d.f. = (r)(t) – 1 = (4)(6) – 1 = 23

Replication d.f. = r – 1 = 4 -1 = 3
Treatment d.f. = t – 1 = 6 – 1 = 5
Error d.f. = (r - 1)(t - 1) = (3) (5) = 15 or
Error d.f. = Total d.f. – Replication d.f. -
Treatment d.f. = 23 -3 -3 = 15
Analysis of Variance
 Step4: Compute the correction factor and the
various sums of squares (SS) as

Where:
 Analysis of Variance
 Step4: Compute the correction factor and the
various sums of squares (SS) as
 Analysis of Variance
 Step4: Compute the correction factor and the
various sums of squares (SS) as
 Analysis of Variance
 Step4: Compute the correction factor and the
various sums of squares (SS) as
 Analysis of Variance
 Step4: Compute the correction factor and the
various sums of squares (SS) as
 Analysis of Variance
 Step5: Compute the mean square for each of
source of variation by dividing each sum of
squares by its corresponding degree of freedom
as:
 Analysis of Variance
 Step6: Compute the F value for testing the
treatment difference as:
Analysis of Variance
 Step 7: Compare the computed F value with the
tabular F values (Appendix E) with

f1= treatment d.f. = t – 1 = 6 – 1 = 5

f2 = Error d.f. = (r - 1)(t - 1) = (3) (5) = 15
Analysis of Variance
 Analysis of Variance
 Step 8: Compute the coefficient of variation as:
Blocking Efficiency
Blocking maximizes the difference among blocks,
leaving the difference among plots of the same block as
small as possible.

 Step 1: Determine the level of significance of the

replication variation by computing the F value
replication as:
Blocking Efficiency
Determine the level of significance of the replication
variation by computing the F value replication as:

Using fi = 3 and f2 = 15 d.f. thus,

5% level = 3.29
1% level = 5.42
Because the computed F value is larger than the tabular F
value at 1% level of significance, the difference among
blocks is highly significant.
Blocking Efficiency
 Step
2: Determine the magnitude of the reduction in
the experimental error due to blocking by
computing the relative efficiency (R.E) parameter as:

Where: Eb is the replication mean square and Ee is the

error means square in the RCB analysis of variance.
Blocking Efficiency
 Step 2: cont…
If the error d.f. is less than 20, the R.E. value
should be multiplied by the adjustment factor k defined
as:
Blocking Efficiency
 Step 2: cont…
THANK YOU!!!