pH Dynamics in Aquaponic Systems: Implications for Plant and Fish Crop Productivity and Yield

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

How can you maintain the temperature during February and July?

Provide pictures of your experiment. 

Reduce similarity index 

 

Author Response

Please see the attachment.

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 2 Report

Dear Authors,

the research undertaken in the manuscript is important because of the need for sustainable farming and food production. Aquaponic fits perfectly into such activities. Simultaneous production of fish and plants is an interesting solution that fits in with contemporary agricultural production in its broadest sense. 

However, please see the comments and suggestions below, I hope they will help strengthen this article:

1. Please rethink the title of the manuscript, it is obviously correct, but it starts with the statement about "no impact" and is a bit strange to read. But this is only a suggestion. 

2. Line 83 refers to Figure 1, which is incorrect, suggesting that Figure 1 shows the location of the experiment.

3. The notation of units is incorrect (lines 92, 94, 102 and more), e.g. L/h, it should be L h-1 or L per h. Please check and correct the entire manuscript.

4. Chapter "2.7 Nutrient analysis" should describe the methods for determining macro and micronutrients, even if the analyses were performed by an external laboratory. 

5. Chapter "5. Conclusions" should be edited to be more concise and specific. It should contain less description of the results and more elaborate final conclusion and possible further directions for research or action.

6. In "References", about 10 of the publications are from before 2000 (there are a few much older ones) and their usefulness and reliability may be debatable. 

 

Author Response

Please see the attachment.

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 3 Report

Page 1, line 2-4

The title in the manuscript is different from the one shown in the review system.

In the system the title is:

"Interactive Effects of pH and Nutrient Uptake on Growth of Six Plant Species in Aquaponic and Hydroponic Systems"

 

Page 1, line 16

Change "Sativum" to "sativum"

 

Page 1, line 19

Change "ammonia oxygen bacteria" to "ammonia oxidizing bacteria"

 

Page 2, line 49

Change "Quagrainie et al (2018)" to "Quagrainie et al. [12]"

 

Page 2, line 50

Eliminate "[12]"

 

Page 2, line 55

Change "Yang and Kim (2019)" to "Yang and Kim [2]"

 

Page 2, line 58

Change "Yang and Kim (2020)" to "Yang and Kim [14]".

 

Page 2, line 60

Eliminate "[14]".

 

Page 2, line 95

Separate the number from the temperature units.

Change "23°C" to "23 °C"

 

Page 3, line 103

Separate the number from the temperature units.

Change "18°C" to "18 °C"

 

Page 3, line 113

Change "Sativum" to "sativum"

 

Page 3, line 118

Change Kim et al. (2019) to "Kim et al. [20]"

 

Page 3, line 119

Must be deleted "[2]". Authors are citing Kim et al., 2018, to describe methodology to refer. See line 118.

 

Page 4, lines 178-181

Separate the number from the temperature units.

 

Page 5, line 197

Change "hr" to "h".

 

Page 6, line 254

Use terminology of total effect (TE0,1) as in the line 252.

"0,1" subscripts.

 

Page 9, line 330

Remove the space between the number and the % symbol.

 

Page 20, line 458

Change "ms/cm" to "mS/cm"

 

Page 20, line 459-459.

Remove "in aquaponics and hydroponics" it is repeated.

 

Page 20, line 462

Change "Thompson et al. (1988)" to "Thompson et al. [40]"

 

Pages 21-22, lines 476-522

Correct citations as above.

 

See attached file.

Comments for author File: Comments.pdf

Author Response

Please see the attachment.

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 4 Report

The manuscript “Solution pH has no impact on nitrification and fish, but significant impact on plant growth, nutrient uptake, and yield in aquaponic systems” deals with the study states that the pH range of 7.0 to 7.2 is recommended to ensure reasonable nitrification rates in aquaponics, yet this range is not conducive to nitrification. This is a contradictory statement that requires clarification or further explanation. While the paper details how pH influences plant growth and productivity in both aquaponic and hydroponic systems, it does not detail how pH influences produce or fish quality. The quality of the vegetables and fish is a crucial aspect in aquaponics, thus including this information in the study would be helpful. Only six plant species and one fish species were included in the analysis.

Although this sample may be useful for learning how pH affects plant growth and fish yield, it does not include all plant and fish species that can be cultivated in aquaponics. As a result, it's possible the results of this study can't be applied to a broader population.

 

Comments

·       LN 35-39: Please rewrite the line.

·       Table 6: Please see the formatting of the table.

·       Fig. 4. The font of the legends in the figure is too small. Kindly make the font bigger and more legible.

·       Similarly, for figure 5

·       The Conclusion section needs to be revisted. Future impact of the present study needs to be mentioned in 1-2 lines.

 

 

 

 

Author Response

Please see the attachment.

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Round 2

Reviewer 4 Report

The authors made substantial rectifications in the manuscript. 

Author Response

Thanks for your commendation, we have used Grammarly to check our manuscript before submission