Randomized Complete Block

Design
Hazel James P. Agngarayngay, MSc.
Mariano Marcos State University
College of Agriculture, Food and Sustainable Development
Department of Agricultural Sciences
City of Batac, Ilocos Norte
Recall: CRD
❑ Experimental units are relatively homogeneous.
❑ Experiments will use very few replicates.
❑ Treatments assigned to experimental units at random.
In reality…
❑ Very difficult to find experimental units that are
homogeneous.
❑ eu‘s are markedly heterogeneous with respect to
some criteria of classification
❑ differences among eu’s are major sources of
experimental error
In reality…
❑ objectives of the study require examining treatments
over a broad range of characteristics of eu’s so that
results will have a wider scope.
❑ Experimental materials must be grouped for
administrative or implementation purposes.
❑ Nuisance factor – a factor that probably has an effect
on the response variable but is not of interest; may be
known or unknown.
❑ Blocking – RCBD, Latin Square Design, Incomplete Block
Designs
❑ Use another statistical technique
Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD)
❑ assumes a single gradient running across eu’s
❑ eu‘s may be grouped into r blocks in such a way that the
eu’s within a block is homogenous
❑ The no. of eu’s in a block is a multiple of the no. of
treatments in the experiment
❑ Each block is a replicate and randomization is done
separately for each block
❑ The presence of blocks, each containing all the treatments,
is the primary distinguishing feature of the RCBD.
Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD)
❑ When the experimental units are not homogeneous
and it is possible to group the experimental units into
blocks such that experimental units within each block
are more homogeneous than those between blocks.

❑ the variability among blocks is taken out of the

experimental error thereby improving the precision of
the experiment.
Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD)
Suited to field experiments:
where the number of treatments is not large
the experimental area has a predictable productivity
gradient.

Soil fertility gradient

Soil fertility gradient
Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD)
Ideal sources of variation

• Fertilizer or variety trial - soil heterogeneity (yield is the

primary character of interest)

• Direction of insect migration – insecticide trial where

insect infestation is the primary character of interest

• Slope of the field – in a study of plant reaction to water

stress.
Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD)
Primary purpose – to reduce
experimental error
• Eliminate the contribution of known
sources of variation among e.u.s
• Experimental error is minimized by
removing block variation from the
error.
• Done by grouping the e.u.s into blocks
– variability within each block is
minimized and variability among
blocks is maximized.
Considerations in Blocking
1. Selection of the source of variability to be used as the
basis for blocking (blocking variable).
2. Selection of the block shape and orientation.
3. Experimental units should be grouped into blocks such
that the variability within its block is minimized while
variability among blocks is maximized.
Case 1: There is one gradient.
Case 2: There are two gradients, one is stronger and the other is weaker.
Case 3: There are two gradients of equal strength.
 Randomization and Layout in RCBD

1. Divide the area or experimental materials into blocks

2. Divide each block into e.u.’s equal to the number of

treatments.

3. Assign the treatments at random to the e.u.’s within

each block .
4. Assignment of treatments to eu’s is independent
between blocks.
Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD)
An experiment is to be conducted in RCB with 4 treatments
and 3 replications. How do you make the layout?

Soil fertility gradient

Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD)
An experiment is to be conducted in RCB with 4 treatments
and 3 replications. How do you make the layout?

Soil fertility gradient

 Data Presentation in RCBD
Treatment Replication/Block ri Treatment Treatment
Total Mean
T1
T2
T3
T4
T5
Tn
Block Total
Grand Total
Grand Mean
 Linear Model (CRD)
Yij = μ + τi + εij i = 1, 2, …, t
j = 1, 2, …, ri
where:
Yij = observed value of the response variable on the jth
eu given the ith treatment
μi = general mean
τi = effect of the ith treatment
εij = random error associated with the observation on
the jth eu given the ith treatment
Linear Model for RCBD
 ANOVA in RCBD
Source of Degree of Sum of Mean F Tabular-F
Variation Freedom Square Square computed 0.05 0.01
Rep or r-1 RSS MSR MSR/MSE
Block
Treatment t-1 TrSS MSTr MSTr/MSE

Error (t-1) (r-1) ESS MSE

Total tr-1 TSS

 Computational Formula
2 𝑡 𝑟𝑖
𝑡 𝑟𝑖
σ𝑖 σ𝑗 𝑌𝑖𝑗 𝑇𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝑆𝑆 = ෍ ෍ 𝑌𝑖𝑗 2 − 𝐶𝐹
𝐶𝑜𝑟𝑟𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝐹𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑜𝑟, 𝐶𝐹 =
𝑟𝑡 𝑖 𝑗

σ𝑡𝑖 𝑌𝑖.2 𝑇𝑟𝑆𝑆

𝑇𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑡𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑆𝑆 = − 𝐶𝐹 𝑀𝑆𝑇𝑟 =
𝑟 𝑡−1
σ𝑡𝑖 𝑌.𝑗 2 𝑅𝑆𝑆
𝑅𝑒𝑝𝑙𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑆𝑆 = − 𝐶𝐹 𝑀𝑆𝑅 =
𝑡 𝑟−1
𝐸𝑆𝑆
𝐸𝑟𝑟𝑜𝑟 𝑆𝑆 = 𝑇𝑆𝑆 − 𝑇𝑟𝑆𝑆 − 𝑅𝑆𝑆 𝑀𝑆𝐸 =
𝑟−1 𝑡−1
 Grain yield of rice with six different rates of seeding
Treatment, Grain Yield, kg/ha Treatment Treatment
kg seed/ha Rep I Rep II Rep III Rep IV Total Mean
25 5,113 5,398 5,307 4,678
50 5,346 5,952 4,719 4,264
75 5,272 5,713 5,483 4,749
100 5,164 4,831 4,986 4,410
125 4,804 4,848 4,432 4,748
150 5,254 4,542 4,919 4,098
Block Total
Grand Total
Grand Mean
 Grain yield of rice with six different rates of seeding
Treatment, Grain Yield, kg/ha Treatment Treatment
kg seed/ha Rep I Rep II Rep III Rep IV Total Mean
25 5,113 5,398 5,307 4,678 20,496 5,124
50 5,346 5,952 4,719 4,264 20,281 5,070
75 5,272 5,713 5,483 4,749 21,217 5,304
100 5,164 4,831 4,986 4,410 19,391 4,848
125 4,804 4,848 4,432 4,748 18,832 4,708
150 5,254 4,542 4,919 4,098 18,813 4,703
Block Total 30,953 31,284 29,846 26,947
Grand Total 119,030
Grand Mean 4,960