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Influence of sample size on precision of heritability and expected selection response in red clover
Author(s) -
Xie C.,
Mosjidis J. A.
Publication year - 1997
Publication title -
plant breeding
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.583
H-Index - 71
eISSN - 1439-0523
pISSN - 0179-9541
DOI - 10.1111/j.1439-0523.1997.tb00980.x
Subject(s) - sample size determination , statistics , heritability , confidence interval , selection (genetic algorithm) , biology , mathematics , sampling (signal processing) , parametric statistics , computer science , genetics , filter (signal processing) , artificial intelligence , computer vision
Limited attention has been given to the effect of sample size on the precision of heritability estimates and expected selection responses. The objectives of this study were to evaluate the effect of sample size on the point estimate, its sampling error and interval width. Monte Carlo simulation and non‐parametric bootstrap were used to estimate parameters in a red clover ( Trifolium pratense L.) data set. We conducted separate analyses for two and four replications, and for combinations of six, 12, 24, 42 and 66 families, each having three, six, nine, 12 and 18 plants. Results showed that the effect of increasing number of families and replications on reduction of sampling error and interval width was greater than that of increasing plants per family. The sampling error and interval width of parameters decreased at a decreasing rate as sample size increased. To reduce the chances of having negative estimates of family variance components and to achieve a narrow confidence interval, an experiment of 42 families, each having six seedlings in four replications would be required.