Iceberg Lettuce and Radicchio Chicory Organic Management of Amendment and Fertigation

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

The article titled "Iceberg lettuce and radicchio chicory organic management of  amendment and fertigation" is a short paper regarding a very interesting issue - the use of low- impact treatment of fertilization, by applying organic or waste-deriving materials, as an alternative practice to mineral fertilizers. The paper is written clearly, the introduction provides a good background and the research design is appropriate. At the end, the obtained results are thoroughly discussed. While this paper presents a very debated agronomic topic of horticultural interest, it is not fully related with the aims and scope of this Journal. Therefore, I believe that this paper should be submitted to a more sector-specific Journal for a more meaningful contribution in the agronomical field.

 

Author Response

Thanks for the important and valuable comments. We submitted the manuscript to a Special issue that is closely related to agronomic field (The Role of Humus Forms in Plant–Soil Interactions). It was also pointed by the Academic Editor that the MS should be placed in a better context to the Special issue topic.

The MS was reformulated with a broader context of soil and humus.

Attached is the new version of the manuscript

Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Reviewer 2 Report

Comments for author File: Comments.pdf

Author Response

Thanks for the important comments and suggestions. We considered all the suggestions made.

 

Reviewer: In materials and methods section, information about the analytical methods used in the analysis could have been referred. However, from my point of view, even more important would be to include in the paper information about the pH, organic matter and C/N content of Bokashi and, above all, the total amount of N applied in each treatment, at the end of the experiment. Eventually, this information may be useful to improve the discussion section.

Authors response: We added the information for total N and Bokashi pH, organic matter and C/N:

“pH= 6; C/N= 16; Total organic carbon= 32 %.”

“The total nitrogen applied for each treatment was: 0.57 and 0.24 g N for Bokashi and NPK, respectively. For BCM, N quantity varied as the crop cycle of plants varied. For iceberg lettuce a total of 0.39, 0.78, 1.17 and 1.56 g N were applied for 2.5, 5, 7.5 and 10 %, respectively. For chicory radicchio, a total of 0.75, 1.5, 2.3 and 3 g N were applied for 2.5, 5, 7.5 and 10 %, respectively.”

In discussion section we added the following sentences:

"In general, the variables correlate between each other in iceberg lettuce and less in radicchio chicory (Figures 1 and 2). It is common to find in literature a positive correlation between agronomic variables. Positive correlations were observed between head diameter of lettuce and fresh weight of shoot; dry weight of shoot and leaf number and fresh weight of shoot [23]. Also, head diameter significantly correlated to chlorophyll index measured by SPAD device [23]. The leaf nitrogen concentration and chlorophyll content is highly correlated [24]. Nitrogen is the most important nutrient for several plant species and participates as an element in several substances present in the plant. In addition to being a component of amino acids, nitrogenous bases and ketone bodies, the nitrogen is present in the chlorophyll molecules [25]. Therefore, significant correlation between chlorophyll and nitrogen was expected cultivation and this reflected on plant production variables. Nitrogen in plant plays critical role of biomolecules (e.g. chlorophylls, proteins) constitution and diverse studies found a direct and significant correlation between chlorophyll and nitrogen content in plant tissue [26,27] which may impact higher yields.  "

Reviewer: In materials and methods section, information about the analytical methods used in the analysis could have been referred. However, from my point of view, even more important would be to include in the paper information about the pH, organic matter and C/N content of Bokashi and, above all, the total amount of N applied in each treatment, at the end of the experiment. Eventually, this information may be useful to improve the discussion section.

Authors response: We added the informations needed. pH= 6; C/N= 16; Total organic carbon= 32 %.

 

Reviewer: 1) Line 158 – “... other microorganisms accelerate the degradation of organic

matter...”. Is this Bokashi feature a positive aspect of this product, as the

authors suggest? The organic matter content of the soil used in the

experiment, for example, is already only 1.8%....

Authors response: We considered that the Bokashi help the degradation the organic matter used as mulch (dry grass) and consequently, releasing nutrientes to the plants.

 

Reviewer: Line 165 – “… according to the results of this experiment, the productive

averages are not negatively affected by organic fertilization.” This statement

will be true if we only consider the results of the Control treatment.

Regarding the results of the mineral treatment, we observe that the

production losses of commercial leaf biomass were very expressive.

Authors response: The statement was deleted.

 

Reviewer: Additional comments

Line 73 - check units (mg dm3 or mg dm-3)

Authors response: The correct form is “mg dm^-3”.

 

Attached is the new version of the manuscript

Author Response File: Author Response.docx