On the use of diagnostic biplots in model screening for genotype by environment tables

Popular rank-2 and rank-3 models for two-way tables have geometrical properties which can be used as diagnostic keys in screening for an appropriate model. Row and column levels of two-way tables are represented by points in two or three dimensional space, whereupon collinearity and coplanarity of row and column points provide diagnostic keys for informal model choice. Coordinates are obtained from a factorization of the two-way table Y in the matrix product UV ^T. The rows of U then contain row-point coordinates and the rows of V column-point coordinates. Illustrations of applications of diagnostic biplots in the literature were restricted to data from chemistry and physics with little or no noise. In plant breeding, two-way tables containing substantial amounts of noise regularly arise in the form of genotype by environment tables. To investigate the usefulness of diagnostic biplots for model screening for genotype by environment tables, data tables were generated from a range of two-way models under the addition of various amounts of noise. Chances for correct diagnosis of the generating model depended on the type of model. Diagnostic biplots on their own do not seem to provide a sufficient means for model selection for genotype by environment tables, but in combination with other methods they certainly can provide extra insight into the structure of the data.