Naming your traits
Standardizing the names you assign to the traits you are measuring is very important. For researchers to be able to share discoveries and information, they must be confident that everyone understands the same thing by a particular trait name. Otherwise it is impossible to compare experiments done by different people, or for another researcher to understand your results.
For example, the term “kernel size” could refer to either length and/or width, weight, or just a visual score on a numerical scale. Similarly, while some refer to "kernels", others may use the word "grain" or "seed" or even "caryopsis" to denote exactly the same thing.