Estimation of experimental plot size based on the variation index of poultry experiments

• Grant number: 17/22296-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: February 01, 2018
• End date: December 31, 2018
• Field of knowledge: Agronomical Sciences - Animal Husbandry
• Principal Investigator: Glaucia Amorim Faria
• Grantee: Luiz Firmino dos Santos Junior
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Engenharia (FEIS). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Ilha Solteira. Ilha Solteira , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Considering that Brazil has the seventh largest egg production industry in the world and the third largest in the Americas, with a population of 20 billion hens, the country has potential for growth and development of new research. In zootechnical studies the quality of the experimental planning is directly related to the quality of the data, and the precision of these is related to the optimal size of plots and number of replications. It is known that the increase in the number of repetitions provides greater reliability in the results found, however, it entails higher costs increase. In animal experimentation beyond costs the number of samples faces bioethical and welfare issues. A blank test would demonstrate the variability of the main variables of commercial laying hens, test the experimental material to be used, provide information to find the plot size and number of replicates needed to express and characterize a particular variable. Thus, the objective of this project will be to propose the index of variation in substitution of the coefficient of variation to measure the experimental variability, since it takes into account the number of repetitions, and, through this index estimate the optimal sizes of experimental plot and sample using experimental data obtained from a blank test, so as to guide the researcher in relation to the accuracy of the data. (AU)