January 16, 2025

10 min

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Transforming Agronomic Research with Field Trial Software

Field Trial Software, A Key Asset For Efficient Agronomic Research

Field trial software helps crop researchers manage and analyze agronomic field trials essential for testing new crop varieties, inputs, and farming techniques under real-world conditions. Here are the essential features of field trial software that accelerate and streamline agricultural research:

  • Planning and Design: Facilitates the creation of detailed trial plans, including plot layouts, treatment plans, and randomization, ensuring robust and scientifically sound experiments.
  • Data Collection: Enables standardized and efficient data collect directly in the field using mobile devices, capturing critical information in real-time.
  • Monitoring and Management: Offers real-time monitoring of trials, tracking progress, and managing field staff to ensure smooth and efficient operations.
  • Data Analysis: Provides advanced analytics tools for analyzing trial data, generating comprehensive reports, and visualizing results to make informed, data-driven decisions.
  • Integration: Connects with high throughput phenotyping, weather stations, and measuring devices for seamless data flow, enhancing accuracy and efficiency.

Agronomy testing software is transforming the way we conduct agronomic research. Whether you're involved in plant breeding or looking to improve farming techniques, these tools are essential for crop testing.

agricultural researcher using a field trial software to accelerate crop innovation

Why Use A Software For Your Agronomic trials?

🤔 Time-Consuming Tasks in Crop Testing

Did you know that crop testing researchers can spend up to 50% of their time on data collection and management? This highlights the challenges they face, including designing scientifically robust trials, labor-intensive data collection prone to human error, managing large volumes of data, and analyzing complex datasets. Additionally, coordinating data from various sources can be daunting without seamless integration.

💡 How Field Trial Software Improves Efficiency?

Field trial software addresses these challenges and streamlines the research process in several ways:

  1. Automated Trial Design: Field trial software simplifies the design process by providing templates and tools for creating detailed trial plans, including plot layouts and treatment plans. This ensures trials are scientifically sound and saves researchers valuable time.
  2. Real-Time Data Collection: Using mobile devices, researchers can collect data directly in the field, reducing the need for manual data entry and minimizing errors. Real-time data collection ensures that information is accurate and up-to-date.
  3. Seamless Integration: Field trial software integrates with other agricultural tools and databases, such as weather stations, ensuring a smooth flow of information. This connectivity enhances the overall functionality and efficiency of the research process.
  4. Centralized Data Management: Field trial software offers centralized data storage, making it easy to organize, access, and secure large volumes of data. This enhances data management and reduces the risk of data loss.
  5. Advanced Data Analysis Tools: The software provides powerful analytical tools that enable researchers to analyze complex datasets, generate reports, and visualize results. This facilitates data-driven decision-making and improves the accuracy of conclusions.
  6. Multi-Factorial Analysis: Allows researchers to analyze multiple factors simultaneously, such as crop variety, soil type, presence of disease, and weather conditions. This comprehensive approach helps in understanding the complex interactions between different variables and improves the effectiveness of conducting field trials.

With these features, crop testing researchers can save time, reduce costs, and improve the accuracy and efficiency of their trials. Field trial software not only streamlines the research process but also enables researchers to focus on interpreting results and making informed decisions, ultimately advancing agronomic research and sustainable farming practices.

Doriane software facilitates workers management and limits risks of errors. Roxanne Henrie, Sollio Agriculture.

🚀 Leveraging field trial management with Doriane software

« Doriane software has boosted collaboration. Also, digitalization of all the tasks through automated macros configured in Doriane software facilitates workers management and limits risks of errors. Quality of work along the years structures our activity and enhances traceability of every batch. » Roxanne Henrie, Sollio Agriculture.

agricultue technician in plant research captures phenotyping and nvitotyping data in the field trial software

How To Integrate Phenotyping And Envirotyping?

Smart phenotyping involves using advanced technologies such as sensors, imaging tools, and data analytics to measure and analyze plant traits with high precision.

“High throughput phenotyping platform generates more accurate, comprehensive, and timely data. It leads to better-informed decisions, more effective trials, and ultimately, faster advancements in crop research and development.” Lee West, Hiphen www.hiphen-plants.com

Envirotyping consists in determining and measuring all environmental factors of plant growth and yield. This includes data on soil properties, weather conditions, and biotic stresses.

"Real-time data from agro-weather sensors combined with artificial intelligence allows researchers to anticipate climate hazards, optimize irrigation, and make precise, data-driven decisions that enhance crop performance and sustainability." Weenat www.weenat.com

🤔 Challenges of integrating phenotyping and envirotyping tools:

Setting up sensors like Weenat or Plant-Ditech, along with Hiphen imagery, can be a bit tricky for two reasons:

  • Data Integration Complexity: High throughput plant phenotyping generates data from diverse sources, including remote sensing, imaging, sensor networks, and robotics. Integrating and harmonizing data from these varied platforms can be intricate, requiring meticulous attention to data formats, metadata, and synchronization.
  • Technical Compatibility: Ensuring that different sensors and imaging tools work seamlessly together can be challenging. This requires robust software solutions that can handle data from multiple sources and provide a unified platform for analysis.

💡 Benefits of integrating phenomics and enviromics to field trial software:

By combining phenotype and environment data with genomics, researchers can gain valuable insights into how environmental conditions interact with genetic traits, inputs, or farming practices to affect plant performance.

Key benefits:

  • Enhanced Data Accuracy: Consolidating real-time agro-weather data in field trial software ensures precise decision-making, optimizing irrigation, predicting climate hazards, and managing resources efficiently.
  • Comprehensive Plant Trial Analysis: With continuous measurements of key physiological traits all in one place, field trial software helps researchers understand plant responses to environmental stressors.
  • Advanced Imaging Solutions: Aggregating high-resolution data from drones, satellites, and handheld devices provides detailed insights into plant health, stress, and growth patterns at every stage.
  • Accelerated Decision-Making: By integrating real-time data and comprehensive analysis, agronomy testing software speeds up the decision-making process.
  • Unified Data Management: Combining phenomics, enviromics and genomics enable comprehensive analysis, real-time monitoring, and enhanced decision-making. This leads to more effective trials and faster advancements in crop research and development.
Mobile data entry on tablets [and] online data entry directly in the database [...] facilitates data valorization. Sandrine C., CTIFL.

🚀 Variety trial software integrated with peripherals and mobile apps at CTIFL

At the CTIFL, variety testing teams have been successfully equipped with Doriane software since 2017 for Fruit trees, Vegetables and Berries. Here is what they say: “It meets the business needs of our research teams. Fully integrated with the central software, the mobile app for field data collection allows us to save time and avoid errors. Online data entry directly in the database thanks to forms manage measurements via peripherals and facilitates data valorization.”

Agriculture research of corn biocontrol with a field trial software

From Data to Decisions: Field Trial Software for Meta-Analysis

Data analysis is crucial in agronomic research, and field trial software provides advanced tools for this purpose. Researchers can generate comprehensive reports, visualize results, and make data-driven decisions. By leveraging these tools, researchers can identify patterns, correlations, and insights that would be difficult to discern through manual analysis. This leads to more accurate conclusions and better-informed decisions, ultimately improving the quality of agricultural research.

Imagine you have a puzzle, but each piece is from a different box. Meta-analysis is like putting all those pieces together to see the bigger picture.

Meta-analysis combines data from multiple studies to draw more reliable and comprehensive conclusions. It enhances the accuracy of research findings by increasing statistical power and resolving conflicting results.

🤔 How Do You Fit All The Puzzle Pieces (Data Points) Together ?

Meta-analysis consists in fitting all the pieces together in order to gain insight on your agronomic research. The main challenge is to homogenize data coming from various sources, so that every data point can be used in the analysis. Strong collaboration of researchers with IT consultants is necessary to define trait standards and configure the field trial software accordingly. To go further, read the article 3 Steps to standardize.

  • Harmonize Diverse Data Types: To integrate data from notations, remote sensing and imaging, the agronomy testing software standardizes the format of every trait.
  • Address Study Variability: Differences in study design and environmental conditions can bring heterogeneity among field trials. Statistical techniques can help normalize and compare data across studies, ensuring that you can draw meaningful conclusions despite these differences.
  • Ensure Technical Compatibility: For seamless operation, ensure that your field trial software is compatible with various sensors, imaging tools, and platforms. This might involve using middleware or APIs to facilitate communication between different systems.

💡 What Are the Benefits of Meta-Analysis for Field Trial Research?

  • More Power to Your Research: Combining data from multiple studies enhances the ability to detect true effects.
  • Seeing the Whole Picture: Aggregating data provides a holistic view, revealing trends and patterns not apparent in individual studies.
  • Making Smarter Decisions: Robust conclusions from meta-analyses support more reliable and effective recommendations.

With a field trial software, researchers can leverage meta-analysis and go further in the precision and efficiency of their agronomic studies.

"We are living in a data world now and with this system we make the most of it." Asli Keçeli, May Seed.

🚀 May Seeds take better decisions with Doriane’s plant breeding software

Asli Keçeli, MAY Seed: “If some problem happens in any steps of breeding, we have the tools to understand the cause right away. This capability is crucial for boosting team efficiency, making quick decisions, and maintaining cost-effectiveness within the R&D department. Most importantly, the system ensures valuable and trustworthy data is attached to the genotypes, which maximizes our genetic pool and is highly valuable for the company.”

biological control testng with a field trial software

Conclusion: Embracing the Future of Agronomic Research with Field Trial Software

Field trial software is transforming agronomic research by enhancing efficiency, precision, and traceability. These tools streamline the research process, support meta-analysis, and ensure data integrity, making them indispensable for modern agriculture.

Key Characteristics of Field Trial Software:

  • Automated Trial Design: Simplifies the creation of detailed trial plans.
  • Real-Time Data Collection: Enables accurate, on-the-spot data capture.
  • Centralized Data Management: Organizes and secures large datasets.
  • Advanced Data Analysis: Provides powerful tools for comprehensive analysis.
  • Seamless Integration: Connects with other agricultural technologies.
  • Traceability: Ensures all data and actions are recorded for better decision-making.

By leveraging these features, researchers can make informed, data-driven decisions, ultimately advancing sustainable farming practices. Embrace field trial software to unlock the full potential of your agronomic research and drive innovation in agriculture. 🌱🚀

Romain Royer

Marketing Manager

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