germinationmetrics (version 0.1.3)

FourPHFfit: Fit four-parameter hill function

Description

Fit a four-parameter hill function el-kassaby_seed_2008germinationmetrics to cumulative germination count data and compute the associated parameters.

Usage

FourPHFfit(germ.counts, intervals, total.seeds, partial = TRUE,
  fix.y0 = TRUE, fix.a = TRUE, tmax, xp = c(10, 60), umin = 10,
  umax = 90, tries = 3)

Arguments

germ.counts

Germination counts at each time interval. Can be partial or cumulative as specified in the argument partial.

intervals

The time intervals.

total.seeds

Total number of seeds.

partial

logical. If TRUE, germ.counts is considered as partial and if FALSE, it is considered as cumulative. Default is TRUE.

fix.y0

Force the intercept of the y axis through 0.

fix.a

Fix a as the actual maximum germination percentage at the end of the experiment.

tmax

The time up to which AUC is to be computed.

xp

Germination percentage value(s) for which the corresponding time is to be computed as a numeric vector. Default is c(10, 60).

umin

The minimum germination percentage value for computing uniformity. Default is 10. Seed Details.

umax

The maximum germination percentage value for computing uniformity. Default is 90. Seed Details.

tries

The number of tries to be attempted to fit the curve. Default is 3.

Value

A list with the following components:

Parameters

A data.frame of parameter estimates, standard errors and p value.

Fit

A one-row data frame with estimates of model fitness such as log likelyhoods, Akaike Information Criterion, Bayesian Information Criterion, deviance and residual degrees of freedom.

a

The asymptote or the maximum cumulative germination percentage.

b

The mathematical parameter controlling the shape and steepness of the germination curve.

c

The half-maximal activation level

y0

The intercept on the y axis.

lag

Time at germination onset

Dlag50

duration between the time at germination onset (lag) and that at 50% germination.

t50.total

time required for 50% of total seeds to germinate.

txp.total

time required for x% (as specified in argument xp) of total seeds to germinate.

t50.Germinated

time required for 50% of viable/germinated seeds to germinate.

txp.Germinated

time required for x% (as specified in argument xp) of viable/germinated seeds to germinate.

Uniformity

Time interval between umin% and umax% of viable seeds to germinate.

TMGR

Time at maximum germination rate.

AUC

The estimate of area under the curve.

MGT

Mean germination time

Skewness

Skewness of mean germination time

msg

The message from nls.lm

isConv

Logical value indicating whether convergence was achieved.

Details

The cumulative germination count data of a seed lot can be modelled to fit a four-parameter hill function defined as follows el-kassaby_seed_2008germinationmetrics:

Where, is the cumulative germination percentage at time , is the intercept on the y axis, is the asymptote, or maximum cumulative germination percentage, which is equivalent to germination capacity, is a mathematical parameter controlling the shape and steepness of the germination curve (the larger the parameter, the steeper the rise toward the asymptote , and the shorter the time between germination onset and maximum germination) and is the "half-maximal activation level" and represents the time required for 50% of viable seeds to germinate ( is equivalent to the germination speed).

Once this function is fitted to the curve, FourPHFfit computes the time to 50% germination of total seeds (t50.total) or viable seeds (t50.Germinated). Similarly the time at any percentage of germination (in terms of both total and viable seeds) as specified in argument xp can be computed.

The time at germination onset () can be computed as follows:

The value is defined as the duration between the time at germination onset (lag) and that at 50% germination ().

The time interval between the percentages of viable seeds specified in the arguments umin and umin to germinate is computed as uniformity ().

The partial derivative of the four-parameter hill function gives the instantaneous rate of germination () as follows:

From this function for instantaneous rate of germination, the time at maximum germination rate () can be estimated as follows:

TMGR represents the point in time when the instantaneous rate of germination starts to decline.

The area under the curve () is obtained by integration of the fitted curve between time 0 and time specified in the argument `tmax`.

Integration of the fitted curve gives the value of mean germination time () and the skewness of the germination curve is computed as the ratio of and the time for 50% of viable seeds to germinate ().

If final germination percentage is less than 10%, a warning is given, as the results may not be informative.

References

Examples

Run this code
# NOT RUN {
x <- c(0, 0, 0, 0, 4, 17, 10, 7, 1, 0, 1, 0, 0, 0)
y <- c(0, 0, 0, 0, 4, 21, 31, 38, 39, 39, 40, 40, 40, 40)
int <- 1:length(x)
total.seeds = 50

# From partial germination counts
#----------------------------------------------------------------------------
FourPHFfit(germ.counts = x, intervals = int, total.seeds = 50, tmax = 20)

# From cumulative germination counts
#----------------------------------------------------------------------------
FourPHFfit(germ.counts = y, intervals = int, total.seeds = 50, tmax = 20,
partial = FALSE)

# }

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