On the Analysis of Combined Experiments

The replication of experiments over multiple environments such as locations and years is a common practice in field research. A major reason for the practice is to estimate the effects of treatments over a variety of environments. Environments are frequently classed as random effects in the model for statistical analysis, while treatments are almost always classed as fixed effects. Where environments are random and treatments are fixed, it is not always necessary to include all possible interactions between treatments and environments as random effects in the model. The rationale for decisions about the inclusion or exclusion of fixed by random effects in a mixed model is presented. Where the effects of treatments over broad populations of environments are to be estimated, it is often most appropriate to include only those fixed by random effects that reference experimental units.