Methodology

details of the features of gem are described in the following help sections genetic identification gem deals with both individual genotypes and groups of related genotypes such as full sib families and seedlots these concepts are covered in more detail in the section on genetic identification trial layout & design trials stored in gem are grouped into series a series is defined as a group of trials that have the same (or similar) experimental design and have been planted on several sites (locations) descriptive information (trial descriptions, attached documents, etc ) can be stored at a global level, and at both the series and trial levels experimental design parameters can be assigned to individual and groups of plants or trees every plant recorded in gem is identified with a unique plant id, and gem associates each plant with its genetic identification physical location in the trial experimental design recorded observations these concepts are covered in more detail in the section on trial layout and design analytical results gem provides automatically generated basic summary statistics for trial data, and also supports storage and retrieval of externally derived statistics for single trials and for correlations between pairs of trials coancestry statistics for individual genotypes may be calculated and extracted the system also allows for storage and retrieval of across trial or trial independent information indicating the suitability for specific purposes (e g breeding values), known as performance indices