Yields, Soil Health and Farm Profits under a Rice-Wheat System: Long-Term Effect of Fertilizers and Organic Manures Applied Alone and in Combination

1

How many   replication (blocks) were in the experiment. Such information is missing in   Material and methods

There   were four replications in the experiment. It is now mentioned in the Material   and Methods section (line 154).

2

Weather data for   each year, especially sum of precipitation and temperatures will be useful to   confirm that effect of climate change has no effect (or such effect exists)   on grain yields.

Average   yearly temperature (minimum and maximum) and annual rainfall during study   period has been illustrated in Figure 1, and also referred in the text  (lines 124-126)

3

The results are   presented in some parts of the manuscript not clearly, e.g. in Table 3 there   are no explanation what does mean “***”. Most probably it means P<0.001   but it is not explained. Moreover in Table 3 regression coefficients (b) are   presented with various number of decimal places (two for rice and four for   wheat). It should be consistent.

***   It is now explained in the footnote of Table 3 (line 261). It stands for   p<0.001.< span="">

Regression   coefficients (b) for both rice and wheat have same decimal places,   consistently for all treatments.

4

What procedure of   multiple comparisons of the means was applied? Such information should be   included in the section 2.6. Statistical analysis and computations

For   comparison of treatment means in the field experiments, ‘F-test’ was used. Multivariate analysis was adapted for multiple   compression of the means. It is indicated in section 2.6. statistical   analysis (line 234)

5

Patterns on the   columns in Fig. 5 cause low readability of that figure. I suggest to change   the patterns into solid colors.

Pattern   of columns in the Fig. 6 has been improved.   

6

The manuscript do   not contain any appendices because of that parts Appendix A and Appendix B   should be removed.

Appendix   A and Appendix B were wrongly given, which have been deleted in revised   manuscript.

1

General comments:   the author used word such as ‘organics’, ‘organic manure’, ‘organic   fertilizer’ and ‘farm yard manure’ interchangeable. While these words are to   a large extent related, they do not mean the exact same thing. The author   actually used Farm yard manure for this study. Hence, it is most appropriate   to use the term farm yard manure.

As advised, the   term farm yard manure (FYM) is used throughout revised manuscript.

2

Title: from   information presented in lines 142-147, the word ‘or’ in the title should be   replaced with ‘and’.  Hence, the title   should read “Yields, Soil Health and Farm Profits under Rice-Wheat System:   Long-Term Effect of Fertilizers and Organic Manures Applied Alone and in   Combination”

Word “or” has been   replaced with “and” in the title (lines 4 and 22)

3

Line 22: organics   (OF) and fertilizers applied alone (RDF) or in combination (IPNS) did the   author mean ‘organics fertilizer (OF) and mineral fertilizers applied alone   (RDF) and in combination (IPNS)’?

Yes, it means   organic fertilizer (OF) i.e. FYM and mineral fertilizers applied alone (RDF)   and in combination (IPNS). The statement is corrected now (lines 21-22).

4

line 51: scientific   name of rice is ‘Oryza sativa’ and not ‘Oriza sativa’

Corrected (line 52).

5

Line 94: the author   should replace the word ‘bottleneck’ with either ‘setback’ or ‘demerit’.

 “bottleneck” is replaced with a more   befitting word “constraints” (line 94).

6

Line 114: kindly   state the season (spring, or summer), or month of the 1998/99 when the   experiment was established

It was monsoon   1998-99 (line 115).

7

Organics or farm   yard manure? The author should be specific.

Farm yard manure   (FYM) is now written throughout manuscript

8

Line 160: how cured   or rotten was the farm yard manure before application? And why was it applied   just 1 week before planting instead of the ‘generally accepted’ 3-4 weeks   before planting?

In intensive   rice-wheat systems of the Indo-Gangetic Plains, well-rotten FYM is applied   7-10 days before rice transplanting or wheat sowing. The FYM used in the   present study was well-rotten with a C/N ration of 6.2:1. Whereas, the time   available between rice harvest and wheat sowing (maximum two weeks) does not   permit FYM application 3-4 weeks prior to wheat sowing during winter, application   much before rice transplanting (monsoon) is avoided to minimize N losses from   FYM under extremely high day temperature (usually >40°C) during   pre-monsoon/summer season.

9

Line 472: the word   ‘waysi’ should be replaced with ‘ways, i)’

Replaced (line 482).

10

Lines 475: replace   the word ‘conjoint’ with ‘concurrent’ or ‘simultaneous’.

Complied as advised   (line 484).

11

Line 487-489: the   author made the statement that ‘Sustainable high yield under the IPNS+B or   IPNS+C may be associated with a reduction of prominent weeds like Echinochloa   sp. in rice and Phalaris minor in wheat under the legume included plots’.   kindly reconcile this statement with lines 166-167 where you mentioned that   chemical herbicides were used to maintain weed free conditions in all   treatment except OF.

In fact, noxious   weeds like Echinochloa sp. and Phalaris minor were not fully controlled   by chemical herbicides, necessitating need-based manual spot-weeding   depending on the intensity of weeds in different treatments. It is now   indicated in the Material and Methods (section 2.1 ) so as to avoid any   contradiction with the said statement in the Discussion section.