Harnessing the Synergy of the Cyanobacteria-Plant Growth Promoting Bacteria for Improved Maize (Zea mays) Growth and Soil Health
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
Comments and Suggestions for AuthorsDear Authors:
After carefully reviewing the manuscript entitled "Harnessing the Synergy of the Cyanobacteria-Plant Growth Promoting Bacteria for Improved Maize Growth and Soil Health", I have decided to suggest: Reconsider after major revision. This manuscript contains important data that highlight the benefits of the combined use of a cyanobacterium and two PGPBs in the agricultural and production parameters of Zea mays crop in field, in addition to improving soil fertility. The above nourishes in an important way the information that exists on new eco-friendly alternatives that are sought to replace the use of chemical fertilizers and achieve a sustainable agriculture. However, the manuscript is sloppy in aspects of formatting, the introduction is incomplete, there is no clarity in the way the materials and methods are presented, as well as in the results (I am concerned about the statistical analysis), I consider that it is not adequately interpreted, since no mention is made of treatments that did work. In general, some sections are well organized, and others are not. In the attached file I send all my specific comments.
Best regards,
Comments for author File: 
Comments.pdf
Author Response
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Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 2 Report
Comments and Suggestions for AuthorsThe authors studied the impact of cyanobacterial biomass and plant growth promoting bacteria on maize and soil health. They found that the combination of cyanobacteria and PGPB has significant impact on maize growth which indicates potential interaction between cyanobacteria and PGPB. This study is interesting and can provide some insights in agricultural field.
The introduction, methods and results parts need significant improvement before publishing on this journal. Please see my detailed comments below:
Line 2: the title may need to be revised as you only used cyanobacterial biomass, if this is correct
Line 52: the papers cited here showed the potential interactions between cyanobacteria and other bacteria. would suggest add another peper at the transcriptomic level to reveal the interaction between cyanobacteria and co-occurring bacteria. This is to further support that biological soil crust's (cyanobacteria + co-occurring bacteria) importance.
Wang, K., & Mou, X. (2021). Coordinated diel gene expression of cyanobacteria and their microbiome. Microorganisms, 9(8), 1670.
Line 96: I would suggest adding a graph to show the randomized experimental design, for example, which block was used for which condition.
Line 107: can you add a few sentences why you use this cyanobacteria?
Line 130: can you add a few sentences why you use these strains?
Line 166: can you add more details how the soil chemical was analyzed using what method from which reference?
Line 176: can I ask how did you do your randomized factorial experiment design? in R or other software?
Line 235: so, for example, the first column, plant height, they are all "a", which means no difference between different conditions, why would you need a letter for that? the same for other columns. I would suggest finding another way to present the data.
Line 287: same as above. if no difference for P and K between different conditions, just add a note in the Figure legend, instead of using letters in the Figure.
Author Response
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Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
Round 2
Reviewer 1 Report
Comments and Suggestions for AuthorsDear Authors,
I have reviewed for the second time the manuscript entitled "Harnessing the Synergy of the Cyanobacteria-Plant Growth Promoting Bacteria for Improved Maize (Zea mays) Growth and Soil Health", which was corrected by you. I consider that you made a good effort and made numerous corrections, but many others were not properly addressed as I point out in the text of the submitted manuscript.
Best regards,
Comments for author File: Comments.pdf
Author Response
Please see the attachment.
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 2 Report
Comments and Suggestions for AuthorsNo further comments.
Author Response
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Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
