Incomplete Block Design

This vignette shows how to generate a incomplete block design using both the FielDHub Shiny App and the scripting function incomplete_blocks() from the FielDHub package.

1. Using the FielDHub Shiny App

To launch the app you need to run either

FielDHub::run_app()

library(FielDHub)
run_app()

Once the app is running, go to Other Designs > Incomplete Block Design (IBD)

Then, follow the following steps where we show how to generate this kind of design by an example with 28 treatments and 4 reps. We will run this experiment in just one location.

Inputs

Import entries’ list? Choose whether to import a list with entry numbers and names for genotypes or treatments.
- If the selection is No, that means the app is going to generate synthetic data for entries and names of the treatment/genotypes based on the user inputs.
- If the selection is Yes, the entries list must fulfill a specific format and must be a .csv file. The file must have the columns ENTRY and NAME. The ENTRY column must have a unique entry integer number for each treatment/genotype. The column NAME must have a unique name that identifies each treatment/genotype. Both ENTRY and NAME must be unique, duplicates are not allowed. In the following table, we show an example of the entries list format. This example has an entry list with 12 treatments.

ENTRY	NAME
1	GenotypeA
2	GenotypeB
3	GenotypeC
4	GenotypeD
5	GenotypeE
6	GenotypeF
7	GenotypeG
8	GenotypeH
9	GenotypeI
10	GenotypeJ
11	GenotypeK
12	GenotypeL

Input the number of treatments in the Input # of Treatments box. In the alpha lattice design, the number of treatments must be a composite number. In this case, Set it to 28.
Select the number of replications of these treatments with the Input # of Full Reps box. Set it to 4.
Set the number of plots in each incomplete block in the Input # of Plots per IBlock box. Set it to 4.
Enter the number of locations in Input # of Locations. We will run this experiment over a single location, so set it to 1.
Select serpentine or cartesian in the Plot Order Layout. For this example we will use the default cartesian layout.
Enter the starting plot number in the Starting Plot Number box. If the experiment has multiple locations, you must enter a comma separated list of numbers the length of the number of locations for the input to be valid. Set it to 101.
Enter a name for the location of the experiment in the Input Location box. If there are multiple locations, each name must be in a comma separated list. Set it to "FARGO".
To ensure that randomizations are consistent across sessions, we can set a seed number in the box labeled Seed Number. In this example, we will set it to 1243.
Once we have entered the information for our experiment on the left side panel, click the Run! button to run the design.

Outputs

After you run an incomplete block design in FielDHub, there are several ways to display the information contained in the field book.

Field Layout

When you first click the run button on an incomplete block design, FielDHub displays the Field Layout tab, which shows the entries and their arrangement in the field. In the box below the display, you can change the layout of the field. You can also display a heatmap over the field by changing Type of Plot to Heatmap. To view a heatmap, you must first simulate an experiment over the described field with the Simulate! button. A pop-up window will appear where you can enter what variable you want to simulate along with minimum and maximum values.

Field Book

The Field Book displays all the information on the experimental design in a table format. It contains the specific plot number and the row and column address of each entry, as well as the corresponding treatment on that plot. This table is searchable, and we can filter the data in relevant columns. If we have simulated data for a heatmap, an additional column for that variable appears in the Field Book.

2. Using the `FielDHub` function: `incomplete_blocks()`

You can run the same design with a function in the FielDHub package, incomplete_blocks().

First, you need to load the FielDHub package typing,

library(FielDHub)

Then, you can enter the information describing the above design like this:

ibd <- incomplete_blocks(
  t = 28,
  r = 4,
  k = 4, 
  l = 1,
  seed = 1243
)

Details on the inputs entered in `incomplete_blocks()` above

The description for the inputs that we used to generate the design,

t = 28 is the number of treatments.
r=4 is the number of replicates.
k = 4 is the number of plots per incomplete block.
l = 1 is the number of locations
plotNumber = 101 is the starting plot number.
locationNames = "FARGO" is an optional name for each location.
seed = 1243 is the seed number to replicate identical randomizations.

Print `ibd` object

print(ibd)

Incomplete Blocks Design 

Information on the design parameters: 
List of 7
 $ Reps            : num 4
 $ iBlocks         : num 7
 $ NumberTreatments: num 28
 $ NumberLocations : num 1
 $ Locations       : int 1
 $ seed            : num 1243
 $ lambda          : num 0.444

 10 First observations of the data frame with the incomplete_blocks field book: 
   ID LOCATION PLOT REP IBLOCK UNIT ENTRY TREATMENT
1   1        1  101   1      1    1    14      G-14
2   2        1  102   1      1    2     9       G-9
3   3        1  103   1      1    3    28      G-28
4   4        1  104   1      1    4    19      G-19
5   5        1  105   1      2    1     2       G-2
6   6        1  106   1      2    2    10      G-10
7   7        1  107   1      2    3     8       G-8
8   8        1  108   1      2    4    27      G-27
9   9        1  109   1      3    1    11      G-11
10 10        1  110   1      3    2    26      G-26

Access to `ibd` object

The incomplete_blocks() function returns a list consisting of all the information displayed in the output tabs in the FielDHub app: design information, plot layout, plot numbering, entries list, and field book. These are accessible by the $ operator, i.e. ibd$layoutRandom or ibd$fieldBook.

ibd$fieldBook is a list containing information about every plot in the field, with information about the location of the plot and the treatment in each plot. As seen in the output below, the field book has columns for ID, LOCATION, PLOT, REP, IBLOCK, UNIT, ENTRY, and TREATMENT.

field_book <- ibd$fieldBook
head(ibd$fieldBook, 10)

   ID LOCATION PLOT REP IBLOCK UNIT ENTRY TREATMENT
1   1        1  101   1      1    1    14      G-14
2   2        1  102   1      1    2     9       G-9
3   3        1  103   1      1    3    28      G-28
4   4        1  104   1      1    4    19      G-19
5   5        1  105   1      2    1     2       G-2
6   6        1  106   1      2    2    10      G-10
7   7        1  107   1      2    3     8       G-8
8   8        1  108   1      2    4    27      G-27
9   9        1  109   1      3    1    11      G-11
10 10        1  110   1      3    2    26      G-26

Plot the field layout

For plotting the layout in function of the coordinates ROW and COLUMN, you can use the the generic function plot() as follow,

plot(ibd)