Vegetos
(An International Journal of Plant Research & Biotechnology)
The Pearson’s χ2 test is feasible for plant biotechnology experiments involving quantitative data
*Article not assigned to an issue yet
Lorenzo José Carlos, Gómez Daviel, Pérez-Bonachea Lisbet, Acosta Yanier, Companioni Barbarita, Zevallos–Bravo Byron E., de Lourdes Tapia y Figueroa María, Hajari Elliosha
Short Communications | Published: 13 November, 2025
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Keywords: Biostatistics, Cryo-conservation, Genetic transformation, Research methods, Salt stress
Abstract
The chi-square test (χ2) has long been used to analyze categorical data and, while not used extensively in biotechnology trials, it has found application in numerous studies investigating segregation analysis. This report considered whether this test can be used on quantitative data collected from biotechnology experiments to determine whether the inherent principles of the test would allow room for adaptation and application with numerical data. This was evaluated using data published in three diverse biotechnology experiments investigating the response of in vitro sugarcane plants to salt stress, the effect of genetic transformation on field performance of pineapple plants, and the effect of cryopreservation on neonotonia seeds. Overall, this work shows that the χ2 test is suitable for the analysis of quantitative (numerical) data.
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Author Information
Department for Plant Breeding and Conservation of Genetic Resources, Bioplant Center, University of Ciego de Ávila Máximo Gómez Báez, Ciego de Ávila, Cuba