Field trials can be set up in various ways.
Understanding the following critical factors of field study design can help end-users realize the value of this type of research:
Understanding the history of a research site is the first and foremost important factor when designing a field study. Once a study hypothesis has been determined, it is essential to reduce data bias by choosing a location that limits variability such as soil properties, fertility, and pest pressure. For example, before conducting a fertilizer study focused on nitrogen, we must understand the historical nitrogen fertilization and the amount of nitrogen that may release from the soil in that area. If we choose a site that was previously fertilized with high rates of nitrogen, we are unlikely to see a strong response to fertilizer treatments.
When we conduct studies on weed control, we must choose plot areas with adequate weed populations, which often requires leaving an area untreated for several years before a study can be conducted. Within a study area, we also take special care to identify areas that may be unique or inconsistent, as these differences can add variability that affects the study outcome.
The results of research studies in articles, papers, and presentations, only show a portion of the work that went into the project. It is important to recognize the value and work behind creating consistent, productive research study areas. Exacto is grateful to work with turf researchers like Dr. Doug Soldat and Dr. Paul Koch at UW-Madison’s OJ Noer Turfgrass Research and Education Facility, and in all of that work, station superintendent Bruce Schweiger is foundational to all of our efforts as his team works hard to prepare plot areas for research every year. And let’s face it, research often means killing grass to find the breaking point, and that often leads to hard work to bring those plots back to life (Figure 1)!
Figure 1: Wetting agent studies involve stressing turf to its breaking point, where untreated plots may completely die by the end of a study. While the results are very valuable to understand how turf responds to treatments under stress, these plot areas will require a full season of recovery after the studies end to bring them back to a consistent, healthy, and uniform state. The work that goes into a study isn’t just what you see in the research report – it also includes a tremendous amount of planning and maintenance before and after the studies are over.
Once a location is selected, we design the layout of studies. We replicate each treatment 3-4 times in each plot area and arrange replications into rows called blocks. Replication and blocking helps to reduce data bias and allows us to determine whether an observation was truly attributed to a treatment vs. random variability.
While we are initially thinking about developing new, exciting products when we design studies, the absolute most important treatments in a study design are the untreated controls. In a wetting agent study, an untreated control tells us how much water stress would occur without use of the wetting agent, so that we can see how well the other treatments worked in comparison. In a weed control study, the untreated control tells us what the weed pressure would have been without any weed control practices. After all, what if we thought a product helped, but in reality, the untreated plot looked just as good? Alternatively, what if a product actually made something worse? Without the untreated control, we have no context to make conclusions about study outcomes.
Figure 2: This wetting agent research plot area includes new experimental wetting agent treatments, but more importantly, includes untreated control plots which serve as a benchmark to show what happens with no wetting agent treatment.
Careful and consistent management practices are extremely important for a successful research study. Ideally, the only thing that should vary within a study area are the things we are interested in testing. For example, if we are testing wetting agents under one irrigation regime, it is important that all parts of the plot receive roughly the same amount of water.
Figure 3: This section of an active golf course was used for a wetting agent study. Left of the line was treated with wetting agent and right was left untreated.
In addition to controlling variability in the plot area, we also need to prevent other factors from confounding the study outcomes. If we are conducting a fertilizer study designed to measure the green color response of the turf, it is important to ensure that plots don’t dry out due to water stress, or become infested with a fungal pathogen that could influence the study outcome. The amount of time spent applying treatments and collecting data is only a fraction of the actual time that goes into maintaining the plot area and managing all of the factors that go into growing turf for research trials.
Throughout the growing season, we regularly record measurements and observations that document the effects of the treatments on the turf. At the end of the study, we analyze these results using statistical methods to account for variability and bias in the data. Variability is present everywhere in our world. Statistics allow us to say whether a difference can truly to attributed to the treatment, or whether it was a result of random variability.
The most exciting part of a trial is piecing together the story – we started with an exciting idea at the beginning, but what happened? Was our hypothesis correct, and did we see something promising that could help turf managers solve a problem? Or, was our hypothesis totally wrong? Often the most exciting and groundbreaking discoveries are the observations you make when a study does NOT go the way you expected. After all, if it always worked the way you thought it would, wouldn’t everybody already have the solution?
Field studies are critically important for Exacto as a company to understand the value of our products to turf managers and our customers. These studies require a significant amount of labor and careful planning, but the time invested is always worth it as we work to bring quality solutions to the industry. Adjuvants and wetting agents are not all created equally and understanding their performance is key for optimizing their use. Turf field studies can highlight the differences between various products on the market and support the decision-making process for turf managers as they work to provide a consistent, quality product for their customers.
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