ESTIMATION OF THE WITHIN PLOT ENVIRONMENTAL VARIANCE IN THE DESIGN I OF NORTH CAROLINA

Abstract

The environmental variation within plots is of theoretical and applied importance in plant breeding. So far, a fully satisfactory estimator of the corresponding variance has not yet been developed; among the existing estimators whereas sorne are based on genetic materials and/or conditions different from those of real interest in a particular plant breeding program, others which do not have these problems have not been characterized in terms of their goodness as estimators. In this study, for the design
I, the solution of the equations between mean squares and their expected values, when these are expressed only in terms of the additive, dominance, and environmental between and within plots variance, an estimator was identified which does not have the
difficulties previously mentioned. In addition, the variance of the new estimator and a formula to estímate it were determined.