Multi-Environment PD Trials are the best way –if not the only – to forecast the performance of your varieties in the target area… as long as locations represent well the growing conditions of the market,and that’s not a piece of cake!
To ensure result accuracy, your field trial network must meet three cornerstones:
Now you wonder how to save time and reduce testing costs? Let’s see in detail what can lead you in 3 steps to cost-efficient PD trials:
Major statistician of the XX’s century, collaborator of Fisher on population distribution, Snedecor has paved the way for ANOVA and experimental design. He used to say:
“Elaborate statistics are not substitute for meticulous experimentation.” G. W. Snedecor
Spatial analysis ensures reliable results of PD trials. When you know the growing conditions in every field, you make the most of each location.
Environment characteristics, also known as experiment metadata, can be captured on every location by field operators, IoT devices, drones and imported from satellite image analysis:
External data capture systems can be integrated to your system, such as GPS data, drone data or even weather station data. Good integration with a software as Bloomeo ensures information is standardized and available in real time.
Analysis of Variance, aka ANOVA, is commonly used to compare genotypes, varieties, treatments,and locations in your experiment. GxE gives insight on the results without environment and genetic bias, it tells you for instance if a material is sensible to environment variation, and in which location some material grows the best.
When integrated in your PD software, you learn more on your locations: In some fields you get more disease, drought, and some yield more. Calculation can be done over several years for higher accuracy. Then you select successful varieties among your most promising material throughout the whole trial network.
With Bloomeo you can visualize for instance histograms of all the locations sorted by environmental effect.
GXE studies give keys to qualify your trial network : identify locations with similar responses or some with very different characteristics. If the two first points highlighted above - location characteristics and GXE effects on our population studied -are finely tracked it is the good start to optimize your PD network and make match with market target.
Avoiding to make trials in locations where responses are the same will make you save costs. Give preference to more trials in more diverse places. It will give more information on the variety characteristics.
In that ambition, predictive tools can be an important support for PD teams. Predictions on locations where the variety has not been planted… it gives you ideas, right ? This is not a fantasy. Bloomeo respond to these ambitions.
A good choice of fields and environments to evaluate your agricultural product is important to succeed in your testing objective. Here are some factors to consider when making your decision.
To obtain reliable and representative results, it is important to test your product in a diverse range of fields that represent the variability you may encounter in the actual production environment (drainage, previous crop history…).
Choosing adequate locations reduces the cost of your testing program and ensures cost-efficient PD trials. For example, testing fields in remote areas may be more expensive to access than testing fields in more accessible areas. It is important to factor in the cost of transportation, labor, and other logistical expenses when choosing the location of your testing fields.
Analytical tools such as Bloomeo can help you indecision of locations to avoid some locations with similar responses and to maximize the diversity of environmental factors evaluated to measure the impact on material performances.
Plant species have specific preferences for temperature, sunlight, and other environmental factors. Consider the agronomic zones where plants will be grown and choose fields within those zones.
The agronomic zones must be representative of market segments or production areas to better address the target.To have a precise view on market segment, check How to secure the launch of your varieties. Then, we must stick on the criteria defined on the market segment, even if it may be frustrating for the teams. A product manager told you once that you can have the more beautiful tomato with a great yield, but if it’s caliber is not the one expected by the market, you would have no chance to succeed your variety launch.
Greenhouses provide a controlled environment whereas open fields expose your plants to the natural environment. Depending on your goals and the characteristics of your product, you may choose to test in one or both settings.
Soil testing provides valuable information about soil fertility, pH levels, nutrient content, and potential limitations or imbalances. This helps you choose your fields, soil amendments and management practices.
Partnering with local contractors and agri-testers reveals the performance of your portfolio in the very conditions of production. Distribution network is a must-have to ensure the success of your varieties in specific regions or countries!
Doriane supports you in all phases of PD trials management from planning to executionand analysis.
For more information, read how to Select the best varieties with bloomeo.
The number of testing fields should be determined based on your budget, resources,specific goals, but it is also correlated with the concentration of agri-testers in that region. Striking a balance between the number of fields and the cost will help ensure an optimal return on investment (ROI) for your testing efforts.
Here are few tips to ensure a good return on investment (ROI):
By following these tips, you can increase your chances of getting a good ROI when choosing testing fields for your agricultural product.
Bloomeo integrates dashboards for data monitoring which will help PD managers in optimizing their PD network answering the questions :
We will now detail the optimization of human resources with time saving and comfort of work and the optimization of data captured which represent an important asset to valorize.
Coordinating the efforts of field operators, technicians, and managers across multiple locations and trials can be a daunting task.
The PD team faces many challenges to get the full operations on track:
Bloomeo dynamic Gantt and Kanban dashboards provide at-a-glance insights into trial timelines and task statuses. dashboarding on the operations made by the team and the partners.
Gantt charts help to visualize the sequential flow of activities and identify bottlenecks to make informed adjustments. This clear vision on task dependencies and timelines enables you to pinpoint cost-reduction opportunities:Potential delays, resource mis-allocations… and keep your project on budget.
On the other hand, Kanban boards provide a more agile view of tasks, allowing teams to manage their work in a fluid, visual manner. Make the most of your resources by dynamically reallocating them to areas that need immediate attention. This agility translates into significant cost savings as you reduce the risk of overspending or resource wastage.
Gathering data represents a substantial investment in resources and time. Not in vain: when every data point gets centralized and validated (identification of outliers), data becomes an asset ensuring informed decision-making:
Data arises from every process of your product development activity. With Bloomeo you get the opportunity to valorize it. For instance, automatic identification of outliers guarantees trustful results.
At Sollio Agriculture, the greatest agriculture cooperative in Canada, the agronomy department is equipped with RnDExp™ plant breeding software from Doriane. Mrs Roxanne Henrie, researcher, acknowledges the benefits of a central standardized IT system:
« We have realized it especially when tele-work became necessary during the sanitary crisis. The process vision enables to automate and manage every step, every task of a program. And since all the data is in the same database, we always know the advancement of the tasks, and we can react very fast if necessary. For instance, if a technician is sick, or when some program requires more work for seedlings. Standardized tools also facilitate training since all the teams use the same tools and the same database.»
With Bloomeo, your team's efforts are not just efficient; they are cost-efficient,ultimately contributing to a higher return on investment. In today's competitive landscape, making the most of your data is not just a strategic advantage - it's a financial imperative.
In the ever-evolving landscape of seed product development, success hinges on making informed decisions and optimizing resources. At Doriane, we understand the complexities of seed variety testing,and that's why we've developed Bloomeo.
By focusing on spatial analysis, strategic location selection, and data standardization, Bloomeo helps you achieve cost- efficient PD trials.
We've explored the three essential steps to cost- efficient PD trials, with Bloomeo as your invaluable ally. Our journey began by emphasizing the significance of multi-environment PD trials and the role of spatial analysis, location selection, and data standardization.
Bloomeo goes further, optimizing human resources, ensuring every effort contributes to a higher ROI. Bloomeo simplifies this complexity. It allows you to strategically allocate tasks, remove bottlenecks, and streamline workflows, all with cost-efficiency in mind.
Harness the power of Bloomeo to streamline your product development process.
With Bloomeo, you're not just managing data;you're shaping the future of your seed products.
Join hands with our experienced team and embark on a journey towards smarter, more profitable product development. Connect with our experts today, learn how bloomeo can transform your product development and increase the success rate of your variety launches 🌱🚀
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