Efficiency of Optimum Plot Size using Information of Previous Experiments Conducted in Split Plot Design

The optimum plot size is required at the time of experiment lay out to obtain the accuracy and reliability of the experimental result. In absence of uniformity trail, an alternative procedure is described to get the idea of optimum plot size. The process involves for determining the accurate estimate of soil heterogeneity coefficient followed by optimum plot size through the past experimental data of split plot design and the expression for the determination of soil heterogeneity has been derived and illustrated through several artificial and real data. The result indicated the considerable gain in efficiency to the tune of 19 and 22 per cent in some cases. This procedure leads to the saving of plot size from 20 per cent to 75 per cent.