Summary
The method of investigating interactions in two-way tables by the regression analysis introduced by Yates and Cochran (1938) has been applied to data from competition diallel experiments with plant species reported by Williams (1962) and Norrington-Davies (1968). Arithmetic and logarithmic scales were used in both experiments and the relative advantages of these are briefly discussed.
Significantly high proportions of the interactions between species (row) and associates (column) effects were explained as differences between the linear regressions of individual performance on the associate values. Consequently the performance of the species in competition could largely be specified by three parameters. These were the species mean (ν), the regression coefficient (b) and the mean effect of associates (a), which respectively measured the general vigour of the species, its sensitivity to competition and its aggressiveness. These parameters jointly provided estimates of what we have termed the general competitive abilities of the species. Specific competitive abilities of particular mixtures are detected as significant deviations from the regression lines.
The parameters were used to derive formulae which provide descriptive and predictive measurements of the competitive advantage of species in particular combinations, and of the mixture performances relative to the performance of other mixtures or monocultures. The types of competition phenomena which could derive from a situation involving only general competitive abilities were shown to vary greatly and depended on the correlations between the three parameters in the experimental material.
The possible types of interactions between associated genotypes (competition, co-operation, antagonism, etc.) can be defined in terms of the general competitive ability parameters, or recognised as specific competitive abilities. It is thus suggested that the regression technique forms a useful approach to the discovery and classification of these effects among competing species.
The second experiment (Norrington-Davies, 1968) involved competition between grass species under four different treatments. Common regression lines constructed over all treatments indicated that response to competitive stress was to some extent similar to the response to other kinds of environmental stress. This raised the concept that some aspects of general competitive abilities could be determined from general response to limitation in environmental factors. The plant breeding implications of this are briefly discussed, particularly the possibility of predicting performance under competition from performance as spaced plants.
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Breese, E., Hill, J. Regression analysis of interactions between competing species. Heredity 31, 181–200 (1973). https://doi.org/10.1038/hdy.1973.74
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/hdy.1973.74
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