Prickly Pear (Opuntia spp.) as an Invasive Species and a Potential Fodder Resource for Ruminant Animals

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

The authors have submitted an article that outlines important review of available scientific literature on the invasive cactus species as potential fodder resource for ruminant animals. The dissemination of a knowledge and understanding of their nutritive value, incorporating the species in animal diets, impact in animal production (performance indices, carcass and meat quality) and the means to control are of paramount importance for small ruminant producers in arid and semi-arid areas.

 I would recommend a several minor changes . My comments and suggestions are outlined in the submitted PDF file.

 

Comments for author File: Comments.pdf

Author Response

Hi 

We would like to thank the Editors and reviewers for taking time to go through our article and providing constructive comments. We have gone through all the comments and our carefully considered responses are attached. We hope that our responses are satisfactory, however we stand ready to make further changes should these be required.

Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Reviewer 2 Report

• Rows 73-76. Although the Opuntia species variability is well known, the potential of invasive cactus as fodder during drought years and dry seasons has not been extensively reviewed. Furthermore, there is no consensus on the level of invasiveness, which should be studied region by region by attributing a specific level of invasiveness (e.g. casual, invasive, naturalized ...) (Stinca et al. 2021), and which offset its value as fodder for livestock and human use.

References to be added:

• Perrino, E.V.; Musarella, C.M.; Magazzini, P. Management of grazing Italian river buffalo to preserve habitats defined by Directive 92/43/EEC in a protected wetland area on the Mediterranean coast: Palude Frattarolo, Apulia, Italy. Euro-Mediterr. J. Environ. Integr. 2021, 6, 32. doi:10.1007/s41207-020-00235-2.
• Stinca, A.; Musarella, C.M.; Rosati, L.; Laface, V.L.A.; Licht, W.; Fanfarillo, E. et al. Italian Vascular Flora: New Findings, Updates and Exploration of Floristic Similarities between Regions. Diversity 2021, 13, 600. doi: 10.3390/d13110600

Table 1. Please correct the scientific name and cut the common names. Why some species have commn name and others not???. Also a formal mistakes, in the column Origin the terms Ethiopia, Italy, Argentina, and Chile have different font size. Please check all table in this way.

• Opuntia ficus-indica (gerao)
• Opuntia indica (Naharia) )
• Opuntia ficus-indica

2. Growing conditions and varieties of prickly pear

Row 88. Opuntia is a model species? Is a wrong sentence because Opuntia is a genus. Please modofy in Opuntia is a model genus or The species of Opuntia….;

Row 91. Please explain better this concept, now is inclear. …”cactus effects on the biodiversity”;

Row 106. Genus such as Opuntia instead Species such as Opuntia. Please check whole document in this way remembering that Opuntia is a genus!!!

3. The effect of invasive Opuntia species on biodiversity and ecosystem

The authors linked correctly the effects of Opuntia on biodiversity, vegetation and ecosystem. Although it would have been better to give some practical examples;

4. Nutritional value of Opuntia species and 5. Enhancing the feeding value of Opuntia for ruminants

• Row 207. Opuntia instead Oputia
• Rows 208-209. Please complete the concept in the suggested way: “here is an increasing interest in utilisation of legume species as an alternative source of protein to low quality Opuntia cladodes in animal nutrition, as observed in many genera of Fabaceae family, especially in the wild species of genus Vicia (Perrino and Wagensommer 2022), and Lathyrus L. (choose reference)”.

Reference to be added:

• Perrino, E.V.; Wagensommer, R.P. Crop Wild Relatives (CWRs) Threatened and Endemic to Italy: Urgent Actions for Protection and Use. Biology 2022, 11, 193. https://doi.org/10.3390/biology11020193

6. Health benefits of PP in diets for ruminant animals, 7. The use of Opuntia cladodes and prickly pears in ruminant nutrition, and 8. Control of cactus species

Well done, no comments and suggestions.

9. Conclusions and Recommendations

Please two much words on future research prospectives in this topic.

Author Response

We would like to thank the Editors and reviewers for taking time to go through our article and providing constructive comments. We have gone through all the comments and our carefully considered responses are attached. We hope that our responses are satisfactory, however we stand ready to make further changes should these be required.

Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Round 2

Reviewer 2 Report

Dear authors,

I appreciate the work done to improve the manuscript in the correct way. For my opinion the paper is ready to be published.

Congratulation,

reviewer

This manuscript is a resubmission of an earlier submission. The following is a list of the peer review reports and author responses from that submission.

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Dear authors,
the topic you have chosen for your research is very interesting and could provide an excellent synthesis on the alternative uses of invasive plants, such as, for example, forage for animals. However, I am sorry to tell you, but your manuscript is very poorly written and very confusing. After the first few pages that I tried to revise, I had to abandon this arduous task because I was finding it increasingly difficult to follow the meaning of the text. Starting from the title in which you speak of Opuntia ficus-indica, to then deal with other species or the genus Opuntia in general.
Bibliographic references are very scarce and many more would be needed. I have indicated some of them to you, but there are so many missing!
Referring to the subject of the manuscript, in its present form, I do not understand what the meaning of Table 1 is.
Please, start considering my suggestions and corrections and, I imagine, also those of the other referees to greatly improve your manuscript.
Best wishes!

Comments for author File: Comments.pdf

Reviewer 2 Report

The manuscript (MS) entitled ''Prickly pear (Opuntia ficus indicia) an invasive plant and a potential fodder resource for ruminants'' has been described the all potential major aspects of the invasiveness, nutritive value,  incorporating the species in animal diets and the means to control where it has considered as a weed. However,  as the title only focuses on its potentiality as a fodder resource for ruminants, more additive value of its uses as fodder could have been discussed in more precise segments. 

The review mostly focused on the impact of the cactus pear on the environment and also how this invasive species can contribute to the ecological niche globally. so, I am better suggesting revising the title of the MS in accordance with the content of the MS. 

The MS has been written in a well-organized manner with a few minor corrections noted in the MS. In some places, the units were used in traditional format which is suggested to revise as standard (ex. kgha-1). 

at pg. 55, authors are suggested to write a different segment on the advantage and disadvantages of using Opuntia for ruminants.

The title focuses on Opuntia ficus indicia, so it will be better to accumulate table materials for this specific species (Table 2- Table 6), if possible. 

in segment 8. Control of cactus species, more scientific evidence can be incorporated. Authors are suggested to add 3-4 research findings on control of cactus species. 

In the reference section, it needs to check thoroughly the scientific name which needs to be italicized and the Jornal name should be formatted as per the guideline of the journal. 

Comments for author File: Comments.pdf

Reviewer 3 Report

The authors present an interesting paper that provides some useful practical details on potential fodder resource of Prickly pear (Opuntia ficus indicia) for ruminants. The bright side of the manuscript is that an invasive species can be a potential fodder source for ruminants. However, the manuscript was not well organized, possible effects of invasive species on biodiversity and ecosystems was not clearly mentioned and some latest adequate references on invasive species were not given (such as; Pyšek et al. 2020, Seebens et al. 2021).

Since invasive species accepted as one of the major threats to biodiversity, many researchers focus on the impact of invasive species on biodiversity and ecosystems. Potential invasiveness of the Prickly pear was not clearly mentioned in the manuscript. Also, some important papers on this topic was missing such as Tesfay and Kreyling (2021).

Pyšek et al. (2020), Scientists' warning on invasive alien species. Biol Rev, 95: 1511-1534. https://doi.org/10.1111/brv.12627

Seebens, H, Blackburn, TM, Hulme, PE, et al. (2021). Around the world in 500 years: Inter-regional spread of alien species over recent centuries. Global Ecol Biogeogr. 2021; 30: 1621– 1632. https://doi.org/10.1111/geb.13325

Tesfay, Y. B., & Kreyling, J. (2021). The invasive Opuntia ficus-indica homogenizes native plant species compositions in the highlands of Eritrea. Biological Invasions, 23(2), 433-442. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10530-020-02373-8