Grafting Technology with Locally Selected Eggplant Rootstocks for Improvement in Tomato Performance

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report (Previous Reviewer 3)

Dear Authors,

The topic is interesting. But the experiment design is not clear to me.

Just as disease development was factorial? Because there is only one variable (Variety) from table 3,

Please provide more details about measuring Vitamin C, color, and the equipment that was used.

Please rewrite the material and methods. It's not easy to follow; there is no order from beginning to end. After grafting, where was the growing area? What temperature is there inside the grow chamber?If so, how do you set up the humidity and temperature? Or was it in a plastic house or an open field? Just in conclusion, I found some info about field production which is expected to wilt disease!

Could you please add some information about the used rootstocks in the experiment?

How do you measure disease incidence?

 

Also, reading the numbers inside the table is difficult. Try to make them round or change the index to kg per plant instead of g per plant.

Author Response

Reviewer 1:

The topic is interesting. But the experiment design is not clear to me. Just as disease development was factorial? Because there is only one variable (Variety) from table 3, Please provide more details about measuring Vitamin C, color, and the equipment that was used.  Please rewrite the material and methods. It's not easy to follow; there is no order from beginning to end. After grafting, where was the growing area? What temperature is there inside the grow chamber? If so, how do you set up the humidity and temperature? Or was it in a plastic house or an open field? Just in conclusion, I found some info about field production which is expected to wilt disease!  Could you please add some information about the used rootstocks in the experiment?

How do you measure disease incidence?

 Also, reading the numbers inside the table is difficult. Try to make them round or change the index to kg per plant instead of g per plant.

 

Response 2: Please provide your response for Point 1. (in red)

1. It is true that disease development and other parameters were factorial, including for Table 3.
2. More details about measuring Vitamin C, color, and the equipment that was used. Measurement of vitamin C using titration with iodine. Iodine is used as an oxidizing agent which oxidizes vitamin C and uses starch as an indicator. Total dissolved solids (TDS), TDS was measured using a refractometer. The intensity of the red color (a+), to measure the color using a color reader Conica Minolta CR-10 and the lycopene content was estimated by a spectrophotometer.
3. Rewrite the material and methods. there is After grafting, where was the growing area, What temperature is there inside the grow chamber?

This study used three replications, with 12 x 3 = 36 units. Each treatment consisted of 40 plants, with a total number of 1440 grafted plants. This study used factorial analysis with three factors, namely grafted vs. non-grafted plants, different varieties, and time of observation.

 The grafting process begins with preparing the scion and rootstock using a planting medium consisting of soil and compost with a ratio of 3:1. The rootstock and scion were planted in each polybag with a diameter of 6 cm. Each polybag contains 2 seeds. Seedlings can be grafted after 2-3 true leaves have grown. Seedlings aged 14-16 days after planting. Cut the eggplant stems over the cotyledons at a 30⁰ angle, then cut the tomato stems at a 30⁰ angle above the cotyledons or the first true leaf. Hold the upper stem piece with your left hand and push it into the rubber valve with your right hand, making sure that the bevelled parts of the scion and rubber valve are aligned. Push or insert the rubber nipple into the rootstock. This study adopted the technique of splicing rubber pipe joints [22]. This technique is considered practical, and there is no need to remove the rubber tube from the grafted plant as the plant grows in the field. After grafting, immediately put into a shaded grafting chamber, with a temperature of 25⁰ C-32⁰C. The grafting chamber of  door is closed to keep the humidity high. Place the graft seed tray on top of the bricks to place the graft seeds on the surface of the water. 4-5 days after grafting occurs hardening of the grafting stem and prevents the entry of insect attacks. Maintain this condition for 2-3 days. Remove the grafted plant from the room and place it in the greenhouse. 9 days after grafting, given foliar fertilizer then placed in the greenhouse for 7-8 days for further development.

4. It was some info about field production which is expected to wilt disease! We were add some information about the used rootstocks in the experiment

Gelatik varieties of eggplant as a rootstocks was a local eggplant that looks very similar to line EG 203 and is easy to get, and is suitable for low-medium lands.

Line of EG 203 of eggplant as a rootstocks derived from Asean vegetable research center (AVRDC) was resistant to bacterial wilt, root-knot nematode, and tomato Fusarium wilt, and have been used in the greenhouse as rootstocks for tomato.

Takokak of eggplant as a rootstocks in melongena cultivation is more resistant to various soil-borne pathogens, including Verticillium dahlia, Ralstia solanacearum, Fusarium oxysporum and Meloidogyne spp and root knot nematodes. According to King et al. (2010) that currently, wild takokak has resistance to various soil-borne pathogens, which are often used for grafting eggplant

5. We measured disease incidence with accounted the percentage of disease incidence wilt was observed every 2 weeks using the formula:

P = a/b x 100%

             Information :

P = percentage of disease incidence

a = number of wilted plants

b = number of plants in the treatment plot.

6. We try to make them round or change the yield index to kg per plant

 

Treatment	Weight of fruit (kg/plant1)
Control (non-grafted)
Cervo variety	3.8	b
Karina variety	0.9	a
Timoty variety	3.4	b
aRS Gelatik eggplant (grafted)
Scion Cervo variety	5.9	c
Scion Karina variety	1.0	a
Scion Timoty variety	5.7	c
aRS EG203 line (grafted)
Scion Cervo variety	6.1	c
Scion Karina variety	1.2	a
Scion Timoty variety	5.5	c
aRS Takokak (grafted)
Scion Cervo variety	5.5	c
Scion Karina variety	0.9	a
Scion Timoty variety	5.7	c
LSD 5%	0.66
CV	20

 

 

 

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 2 Report (Previous Reviewer 1)

Manuscript scientific quality  has been substantially improved by authors'modifications. Publication is recommenden in its present version. 

Author Response

Response to Reviewer 2

 

Reviewer 2:

Manuscript scientific quality  has been substantially improved by authors'modifications. Publication is recommenden it is present version.

Ok Thank you very much…

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 3 Report (New Reviewer)

There is a need to give the detail of scions and root stocks. What would be the probable fundamental reasons behind the selection of all the cultivars. You have to add relevant information and improve overall language of the manuscript.   

Author Response

Response to Reviewer 3:

There is a need to give the detail of scions and root stocks. What would be the probable fundamental reasons behind the selection of all the cultivars. You have to add relevant information and improve overall language of the manuscript.

 

Scion :

The Cervo F1 tomato is a large-fruited virus-resistant hybrid tomato that is suitable for planting in low to medium lands. The growth type of Cervo F1 tomato is determinate, the plant is resistant to hot climates (tolerant), and is resistant to bacterial wilt and Gemini Virus.

The Timoty was tomato is a hybrid tomato that is resistant to Gemini virus and matures early and adapts to lowlands with an altitude between 60-350 above the sea level.

Karina tomatoes are round, uniform, and not hard tomatoes. Has a harvest age of 60 - 70 DAP with a production potential of 2 - 3 kg / plant. Tolerant to wilt disease. Suitable at all altitudes.

Rootstocks :

Gelatik varieties of eggplant as a rootstocks was a local eggplant that looks very similar to line EG 203 and is easy to get, and is suitable for low-medium lands.

Line of EG 203 of eggplant as a rootstocks derived from Asean vegetable research center (AVRDC) was resistant to bacterial wilt, root-knot nematode, and tomato Fusarium wilt, and have been used in the greenhouse as rootstocks for tomato.

Takokak of eggplant as a rootstocks in melongena cultivation is more resistant to various soil-borne pathogens, including Verticillium dahlia, Ralstia solanacearum, Fusarium oxysporum and Meloidogyne spp and root knot nematodes. According to King et al. (2010) that currently, wild takokak has resistance to various soil-borne pathogens, which are often used for grafting eggplant

 

• Ok, I will improve my English writing

 

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Round 2

Reviewer 1 Report (Previous Reviewer 3)

Dear Authors

The manuscript has been improved.

Author Response

Thank you very much

Reviewer 3 Report (New Reviewer)

You have to submit in other journal. I think there enormous studies on grafting in tomato using brinjal as rootstock.

Author Response

Thank you very much

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

The manuscript deals with an interesting topic but the scientific quality of the present version, which must be rejected and eventually rewritten and resubmitted as a new manuscript, is poor. Authors describe three eggplant rootstocks, three tomato scions, and different time of observations -possibly 6, according to degrees of freedoms from Table 3 given that the number was not mentioned along the text or ay least I was not able to find it- as source of variations. Firstly, a time series should not be included as source of variations in ANOVA, because for this statistical analysis levels of a given factor must be independent each from another and this is not the case in a time series. In fact there exists a specific analysis named time series for situations like the considered in this research. Secondly provided that this irregularity might be accepted, the number of treatments should be 3 x 3 x 6 = 54, but authors stated that number of treatments is 12.with three replications (line 79 page 2). Hence, there is a problem with the experimental design, I could guess that the number 12 is due to 4 (corresponding to levels of source of variation Grafted in Table 3, df = 3) combined with 3 (corresponding to levels of source of variation Variety in Table 3, df = 2). But I can really understand why there are 4 leves for Grafted, given that previously authors mentioned 3 rootstocks and 3 scions. Again, I might guess that authors should have contrasted grafted vs. non grafted, but this is not explained in the text. Therefore, levels of non grafted scions x rootstocks combinations should be the same that the grafted one. Also, the number of varieties in Table 3 is 3 but df = 2) but it is 12 in Table 1. Actually, in this case I am not able to guess anything but, by the way, the readers should not be guessing in scientific literature in any case. Disease resistance evaluations are not included in Material and Methods but in Results an ANOVA is presented without discriminating between diseases. Also, none information about normality of distributions is given neither for this variable nor for the others in order to verify is ANOVA is an appropriate statistical method for applying in this study. Finally, presenting all ANOVA tables in the main text, independently from its adequacy to data nature, in not necessary. Concluding, and as previously stated, scientific quality of the manuscript is poor and it must be Rejected. Authors must do an effort to improve it according to this reviewer’s indications and resubmit a new manuscript.

Reviewer 2 Report

The results are interesting and valuble. I only recomend to enrich introduction using the following papers:

Gatahi, D. (2020). Challenges and Opportunities in Tomato Production Chain and Sustainable Standards. International Journal of Horticultural Science and Technology, 7(3), 235-262. doi: 10.22059/ijhst.2020.300818.361

Ebrahimi A and Vahdati K (2007) Improved success of Persian walnut grafting under environmentally controlled conditions. International Journal of Fruit Science. 6(4): 3-12.

 

Reviewer 3 Report

Dear Authors

please add more detail and information about analysis data? which program do you use?

line 103: you mention about grafting method, but I dont see any description in table 1 about different grafting method and also in material methods. please write about grafting technique in material and methods. Just in table 3 I found about grafted factors. I m not sure here you are talking about different grafting methods? what are these grafting tecnhique. 

Table 5. in first row: control and I dont see grafted plants at the first time. here is not clear for reader which one is grafted and which one is non grafted. because you bold just non grafted tittle. please arrange the table better.

experiment deisgn is not clear? are there two experiment? factorial or CRD?