The performance of a variety cannot be measured with absolute precision.
Uncontrollable variability is involved in the determination of each yield average.
This variability sometimes occurs because the soil is not uniform, but many other conditions may also contribute. Because variability exists in all field experimentation, statistics are used as a tool to assist in making decisions. The LSD is quite simple to apply. When two entries are compared and the difference between them is greater than the LSD, the entries are judged to be significantly different. Differences smaller than the LSD may have occurred by chance and are judged to be not significant.