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Plant field trials are used to investigate a range of characteristics, for example:

• The performance of different plant cultivars or treatments under the same set of environmental conditions.
• The effect different environmental conditions have on a new cultivar of a crop plant.

When designing a plant field trial you must consider the following:

• The selection of treatments used - to make it a valid investigation and to ensure valid comparisons, only one treatment must be trialled at one time. For example, the effect of fertiliser on the growth of a crop.
• Number of replicates - several replicates (three minimum) must be used to improve the reliability of results and to take account of variability within the sample.
• Randomisation of treatments - must be applied randomly to the test area, to eliminate bias when measuring treatment effects.