Green Synthesis and Characterization of Zinc Oxide Nanoparticles Using Larrea tridentata Extract and Their Impact on the In-Vitro Germination and Seedling Growth of Capsicum annuum

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

In figure 1 legend, the name of the plant must be in italics.

Line no.: 398 “Capsucu annum L.”…check the name/spelling.

In the reference list , in reference no. 9 ‘Labeo rohita’ must be in italics. Do the same corrections in reference no 31, 36, 39, 41, 43, 51, 55, 58, 59, 65, 75.

Make sure that the title portion of each reference in the reference list must be in running (except some special words ).

Author Response

Dear Reviewer,

Thank you very much for the feedback and your support of our work.

We have included all of your editing suggestions in the new version of our manuscript. 

We updated the reference list.

Reviewer 2 Report

The manuscript was titled " Green synthesis and characterization of zinc oxide NPs using Larrea tridentata extract and their impact on In-Vitro germination and seedling growth of Capsicum annuum." by Marszalek et al. focus on the sustainable synthesis of ZnO NPs and its application as germination and seedling growth. As for sustainability, this method is thoroughly great. Although this kind of plant just exist in some part like the USA and Mexico and it could be considered as a drawback for this procedure.

As for the material, the results obtained by the authors are interesting and clearly presented however as for nanoparticle authors must characterize it by some particularly important analysis namely TEM and DLS.

In the introduction parts, the authors missed much pioneering and recent research in this regard. They must cite the references below:

1-      Al Awadh, A. A., Shet, A. R., Patil, L. R., Shaikh, I. A., Alshahrani, M. M., Nadaf, R., ... & Kumbar, V. (2022). Sustainable synthesis and characterization of zinc oxide nanoparticles using Raphanus sativus extract and its biomedical applications. Crystals, 12(8), 1142.

2-      Alhujaily, M., Albukhaty, S., Yusuf, M., Mohammed, M. K., Sulaiman, G. M., Al-Karagoly, H., ... & AlMalki, F. A. (2022). Recent Advances in Plant-Mediated Zinc Oxide Nanoparticles with Their Significant Biomedical Properties. Bioengineering, 9(10), 541.

More importantly, a research group from Mexico (Vera-Reyes et al.) recently reported efficacy of biosynthesized silver nanoparticles from Larrea tridentata. Authors need to not only cite it but also discuss and comprise their method with this research.

1-      Méndez‐Andrade, R., Vallejo‐Perez, M. R., Loera‐Alvarado, E., de los Santos‐Villarreal, G., García‐Cerda, L. A., & Vera‐Reyes, I. (2022). Efficacy of biosynthesized silver nanoparticles from Larrea tridentata against Clavibacter michiganensis. Journal of Phytopathology, 170(2), 91-99.

Last but not least, the authors should provide a comparison table about previous reports concerning seed germination. It is also recommended they investigated the efficacy of its ZnO NPs with previous methods for the synthesis of these nanoparticles as seed germination.

All in all, I am believed that this article could be accepted in this journal after major revision.

Comments for author File: Comments.pdf

Author Response

Dear Reviewer,

Thank you very much for prompting us to improve our manuscript. We have revised the introduction and germination analysis of the manuscript. In addition, we have added data for DLS analysis that gave us a deeper understanding of the system.

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 3 Report

The paper focuses on the synthesis of zinc oxide  nanoparticles by means of Larrea tridentata ethanolic extract and the effect of extract concentration, temperature and pH on the kinetics, yield of the reaction and the size/morphology of the resulting nanoparticles has been investigated. The authors demonstrated that the zinc oxide nanoparticles thus prepared can stimulate serrano chili seeds' germination and the seedling's growth.

The paper falls within the scope of the journal and might be of interest for its readers. The presentation is clear. My comments/suggestions are shown below:

1. In 3.24 the nanoparticle size analysis based on SEM images seems rather questionable given that the particles form agglomerates and it is difficult for individual nanoparticles to be discerned.

2. The use of plant extracts as reducing agents for the synthesis of zinc oxide nanoparticles has been extensively studied. It is unclear whether or not the use of   Larrea tridentata extract offers any distinct advantage compared to other plant extracts previously considered.

3. Furthermore, the beneficial role of zinc oxide nanoparticles in plant growth has been well established. In that sense the novelty and significance of the work should be further substantiated.

4. Concerns regarding the phytotoxicity of zinc oxide  nanoparticles have been  raised in recent studies. The authors should include experimental data regarding the assessment of  the phytotoxicity of their nanoparticles.

 

Author Response

Dear Reviewer,

 

Thank you very much for prompting us to improve our manuscript. We have revised the introduction and germination analysis of the manuscript. In addition, we have added data for DLS analysis that gave us a deeper understanding of the system.

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Round 2

Reviewer 1 Report

In Figure 11... Why ZnONPs has been written so many times?. Better to frame a X-axis title ..".Nanoparticle concentration" and write only the concentrations. Follow the pattern of Fig. no. 12.

In Fig. 13 remove ppm ....it is written so many times. Just write " Concentration (in ppm)" as X-axis title.

Reference no. 42 (in the list)....The word capsicum should start with a capital letter.

Reference no. 4, 5, 15, 16, 24, 28, 30, 33, 37, 41,  45, 53, 75, 77, 84, 88 : The title should be in running format.

Reference no. 76...remove 'february'.

 

Author Response

We appreciate your comments.

Thank you for your corrections.

We have applied all changes suggested.  

Reviewer 2 Report

The authors have answered all the questions precisely and now the paper is ready for acceptance

Author Response

We appreciate your comments. Thank you for your evaluation.

 

Reviewer 3 Report

The authors have made an effort to address the comments made by the reviewers.

Author Response

We appreciate your comments. Thank you for your evaluation.