Covariance regularization for metabolomic data on the drought resistance of barley

Summary Modern chromatography largely uses the technique of gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry (GC–MS). For a set of data concerning the drought resistance of barley, the problem of the characterization of a covariance structure is investigated with the use of two methods. The first is based on the Frobenius norm and the second on the entropy loss function. For the four considered covariance structures – compound symmetry, three-diagonal and penta-diagonal Toeplitz and autoregression of order one – the Frobenius norm indicates the compound symmetry matrix and autoregression of order one as the most relevant, whilst the entropy loss function gives a slight indication in favor of the compound symmetry structure.