Effect of the Cultivation Method and the Distance from a Steel Mill on the Content of Heavy Metals in Bell Pepper Fruit
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
Comments and Suggestions for AuthorsThe manuscript is intereting and focusses on an important challange which is air pollution and that can transfer to food chain affecting human health. However, some minor revision is needed.
- the main concern, you used too long paragraphs make it diffucult to follow. This may be separated into several paragrahs i.e. paragraph for each metal.
- a recommendation is needed in the abstract section.
All the best,
Author Response
Dear Sir or Madame,
please find our answers in the attached file
yours sincerely Paweł Mundała
Author Response File: 
Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 2 Report
Comments and Suggestions for AuthorsThis paper discusses the effect of contamination with heavy metals on the bell pepper fruit grown in areas affected by industrial emissions and explores the changing trend of heavy metals concentration in soil by using two different methods (cultivation in the ground or plastic greenhouse) and at various distances from a steel mill. The contents (especially experimental data) are adequate and the discussions are in place, but some details need to be worked out.
Specific comments:
1.L251-L252, the hypothesis IIIb talks about the soil, why do the pepper fruits appear in the sentence?
2.L252-L254, how do you prove that these three metals (Cd、Pb、Zn) do not interact mutually?
3.L277-L278, For Cu, a significant difference was shown only between the concentrations determined at sites Ru and Wa (farthest and second farthest). Is there any difference in the concentrations determined at sites Po and Wa?
4.L288-L294, the Chapter 3.1 discusses the concentration of heavy metals in soil, but in the end it discusses the concentration of heavy metals in fruits.
5.L341-L343, please give a favourable range of zinc’s concentrations in normal plants or animals.
6.L343-L345, in the pepper fruits from greenhouse cultivation, the maximum value of copper concentrations should be 8.24 mg*kg-1 d.w. (site Po).
7.L381, Cr6+ is not a correct format, it should be Cr(VI).
8.L417-L420, the Table 4 shows the concentrations of Pb in the pepper grown in a greenhouse were not statistically significantly lower than their contents in fruit grown in the field (first and second dates).
9.L451-L469, please identify the source of the data so that readers can read it easily. In addition, some missing units (0.414,L456; (0.346) and third date, L457) should be completed.
10.L465-L466, For Ni content, this pattern was observed only in the pepper grown in a greenhouse at location Ko, what does this pattern specifically refer to?
11.L495-L499, such differences were not shown between the first two or between the last two locations (Table 6). But table 6 shows such differences were shown between the first two in the tests without harvest date and for the second date.
12.L499-L502, Table 6, are there significant differences in Pb concentrations at site Po and Wa? Check the differences in Cd concentrations as well.
14. L493-L518, why is there only no information about chromium？
15. L528-L529, another factor is the size of the yield, which is always greater in greenhouse cultivation than in field cultivation in the study area. How to measure the size of the yield? Please give the figures for the yield of pepper fruits to support your conclusion.
Author Response
Dear Sir or Madame,
please find our answers in the attached file,
yours sincerely Paweł Mundała
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 3 Report
Comments and Suggestions for AuthorsThis work investigated how cultivation method and distance from a steel mill affected heavy metal contents in bell pepper. I have some comments that may help further improve the quality of the paper:
Introduction
Key information regarding previous work is missing, for example, a literature review of other researchers’ work for this topic. This is necessary, otherwise I cannot tell the necessity and innovation of this work.
Materials and methods
2.1 Study area: It is REALLY NOT NECESSARY to mention the history with Soviet Union. Only keep the necessary information such as yield of steel and violation of environmental regulations. It is not appropriate to talk about politics in academic papers.
Line 116-117: “Mineral fertilization, soil cultivation, irrigation, and plant protection were standardized on all farms”. Please describe in detail or cite references.
Description of the soil properties such as background pH, OM, heavy metal concentration, etc.
Tables: your HSD is actually p values? Please verify.
Comments on the Quality of English LanguageEnglish is fine. Only minor revision is required.
Author Response
Dear Sir or Madame,
please find the attached file with answers for the questions.
Yours sincerely Paweł Mundała
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 4 Report
Comments and Suggestions for AuthorsThis manuscript entitled: "Effect of cultivation method and distance from a steel mill on the content of heavy metals in bell pepper fruit" asserts that plastic greenhouse cultivation of peppers had statistically lower metals in the fruit as compared to conventional field production. The experimental design is sound, and the analysis is appropriate. I would like to see more information on the soil properties (Organic matter, clay content, pH). The authors note that the background levels of the soils were in line with their analysis for the most part. This gives me some concern, because if this steel mill has been operational for over 70 years, I would expect significantly higher concentrations in the soil (especially lead, assuming the annual rate of 39 t in dust emissions) . Further, if the atmospheric deposition of metals has not caused a significant spike in the soils, I would not think the use of greenhouse would impact the results much. There should be more discussion on this, and do not think any definitive conclusions should be made. I believe there is merit to the manuscript, if nothing else, it adds good information and some context for metal accumulation in pepper.
Also, I believe some of the tables could be created as graphical figures. It is difficult to synthesize the data in the way it is currently arranged.
Comments on the Quality of English LanguageThe English is acceptable.
Author Response
Dear Sir or Madame,
please find the file atached.
Yours sincerely Paweł Mundała
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
Round 2
Reviewer 2 Report
Comments and Suggestions for Authors1. The objectives of the study should be revised to make key questions clear and scientifical. Avoid using hyphothesis Ia, Ib but directly put forward your questions.
2. The table (1, 3, 4, 6) layout is not scientifically sound. No Table 5? Table 2.1-2.4 can be placed in a supplementary file.
Author Response
Dear Sir or Madam,
please find attached file.
Yours sincerely Paweł J. Mundała
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
