Rock Powder Enhances Soil Nutrition and Coffee Quality in Agroforestry Systems
, Guilherme Luiz Dotto 4, Irene Maria Cardoso 2 and Suzi Huff Theodoro 1,*
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
Comments and Suggestions for AuthorsDear Editor,
Given my research interests, my review is focused on the statistical side of the evaluated research, i.e., selection of statistical methods, their description, presentation of results, and discussion from a statistical point of view.
Krzysztof Ukalski
Author Response
Dear reviewer,
We would like to thank you for reviewing.
We used the Speed Stat programme for the static analyses. This programme was developed by one of the authors of this article (André M. Carvalho) and collaborators and is available at http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/1984-70332020v20n3s46.
Best regards
Reviewer 2 Report
Comments and Suggestions for AuthorsThe use of specialized mineral fertilizers, when cultivating cultivated plants under conditions where soils are prone to erosion, will contribute to the retention of essential macro and micronutrients involved in biosynthesis both within the plant and in the soil itself, while maintaining higher moisture levels. The authors utilize appropriate techniques that promote the integrity of the study to obtain conclusive results. Expanding the use of this powder requires analyzing the use for other species of cultivated plants, taking into account the carbon footprint and analyzing changes in soil organisms in symbiont relationships with plants. Accept in present form.
Author Response
Dear reviewer,
We would like to thank you for reviewing and suggesting acceptance of the article.
Best regards
Reviewer 3 Report
Comments and Suggestions for AuthorsDear Authors,
The MS entitled “Rock Powder Guarantees Soil Nutrition and Coffee Quality in Agroforestry Systems” by Fernanda de Paula Medeiros et al. has been reviewed. The authors suggest that the use of gneiss powder enhances soil microorganism activity and accelerates the biological weathering of minerals for coffee plantations in agroforestry systems. The concerns of your MS are listed below.
Please add a star beside the name of the corresponding author.
The title of the manuscript should be changed. I would suggest that „Guarantees“ change to „enhances“.
On the graphic abstract, the text letters need to be enlarged.
Asbtract: Please rewrite the abstract and ensure that the obtained results are better explained.
· „Ideally, they should be used in conjunction with managemnet systems that enhance the weathering of the minerals in the rocks“ - I would suggest either deleting that sentence or providing an explanation for it in the main text of the manuscript
· Agroforestry systems (AFS) it should be (AFSs)
· fully exposed to the sun – please introduce the abbreviation (FS)
· „After 24 months of applying rock powder, we noticed that the soil moisture in agroforestry systems (Portuguese acronym, AFSs) was higher, most likely a benefit to the greater availability of nutrients (K, Ca2+, and Mg2+, Cu, and Zn) derived from the gneiss powder.“ - Please rewrite this sentence and include the full name potassium (K), copper (Cu), Zinc (Zn) the first time it is mentioned. Is it significant higher?
Material and methods
· Please add a map of the experiment locations.
· line 104: delete „-„ and „ in this study“ -rewrite sentance.
· Red-Yellow Argisol (RYA) and Yellow Latosol (YL) – please add the full name in the Table 1.
· In Table 2, please replace the numbers in the subscript with letters or symbols
· line 143: „These samples were next to the coffee plant canopy, giving us a composite sample“ –please rewrite and delete „giving us“.
Results and discussion
· Please maximize the resolution of the figures and make them more representative.
· line 306: “AFS systems” change to “AFSs”
All references in the MS should be uniforms.
Author Response
Dear reviewer,
Thank you for your comments and suggestions for correcting or changing some points in the article.
We would like to inform you that we have accepted 100% of the suggestions and have included the changes/clarifications in the final copy sent to the Editor.
Best regards
Suggestion 1 - add the name of the corresponding author.
Answer: We have appointed Fernanda Medeiros as corresponding author
Suggestion 2 - The title of the manuscript should be changed. I would suggest that “Guarantees“ change to “enhances“.
Answer: We've changed/replaced the word (enhances)
Suggestion 3: The graphic abstract - the text letters need to be enlarged.
Answer: We've enhanced the letters font size in the graphic abstract.
Suggestion 4: Ideally, they should be used in conjunction with management systems that enhance the weathering of the minerals in the rocks“- I would suggest either deleting that sentence or providing an explanation for it in the main text of the manuscript
Answer: we've rewritten the sentence
Suggestion 5: Agroforestry systems (AFS) it should be (AFSs)
Answer: we have mofified the abbreviation of AFS to AFSs
Suggestion 6: Fully exposed to the sun (please introduce the abbreviation - FS)
Answer: we've introduced the abbreviation FS to characterize fully exposed to the sun.
Suggestion 7: After 24 months of applying rock powder, we noticed that the soil moisture in agroforestry systems (Portuguese acronym, AFSs) was higher, most likely a benefit to the greater availability of nutrients (K, Ca2+, and Mg2+, Cu, and Zn) derived from the gneiss powder.“ - Please rewrite this sentence and include the full name potassium (K), copper (Cu), Zinc (Zn) the first time it is mentioned. Is it significant higher?
Answer: we add the full name of the elements as suggested - F (phosphorus), K (potassium), Ca (calcium), Mg (magnesium), Mn (manganese), Fe (iron), Cu (copper), Zn (zinc), Ni (nickel), Cd (cadmium), Cr (chromium), and Pb (lead) in the first time they are mentioned
Suggestion 8: add a map of the experiment locations.
Answer: We add the map.
Suggestion 9: line 104: delete „-„ and „ in this study“ -rewrite sentence.
Answer: the sentence was rewrite
Suggestion 10: Add the full name of the soils in the Table 1 - Red-Yellow Argisol (RYA) and Yellow Latosol (YL)
Answer: We add the full names of the soils
Suggestion 11: In Table 2, please replace the numbers in the subscript with letters or symbols
Answer: We change the symbols as suggested.
Suggestion 12: line 143: “These samples were next to the coffee plant canopy, giving us a composite sample“. Please rewrite and delete “giving us“.
Answer: We rewrite the sentence
Suggestion 13: Please maximize the resolution of the figures and make them more representative.
Answer: We change the quality of all the figures
Suggestion 14; line 306: “AFS systems” change to “AFSs”
Answer: We have replaced AFS to AFSs throughout the text
Suggestion 15: All references in the MS should be uniforms.
Answer: We standardise all references
Reviewer 4 Report
Comments and Suggestions for AuthorsThe work by Medeiros et al., explain the potential role of gneiss powder for improvement the soil quality and the foster the life of soil. Moreover, adding the gneiss powder in the AFSs system greater diversification of strata and increase the level of organic matter which can encourage on the activity of microorganisms in the soil, which can have several benefits such as greater nutrient cycling and increased solubility of minerals in soil. The report is well written and condensed, as well as technically appropriate for Sustainability-MDPI. However, before being able to recommend acceptance, I invite authors to address the following amendments:
- In line no. 24: what is the name of Coffea species that you used in your study, because there are a very large number of species around the world (Ù‘see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coffea), please add the scientific name.
-In line no. 59: " Law nº 12.890/2013 and IN 05/2016" it should be "LAW Nº 12.890, of December 10, 2013 and LAW N° 21/05/2016". If you mean these two law.
-In line no. 92 and 93: Please add the geographic location for this location "in the municipality of Divino, in the state of Minas Gerais", for-example "San Francisco is 122.4227 degrees East latitude and 37.7942 degrees North longitude."
-In line no. 93: "is classified as Cwa," it should be " is classified as Cwa [Cwa: C = Mild temperate w = Dry winter a = Hot summer] ".
-In line no. 94: As you mention "Köppen-Geiger classification system", so you mean "Köppen-Geiger climate classification maps" or "Köppen Climate Classification System" which one?
-In line no. 96: What is the meaning of these letters "GA" and "LA" in this sentence "The farming properties are in the Taquaraçu community and are referred to as GA and LA" or you mean "GA (Gilvânia e Anacleto), LA (Luís e Aparecida) ", please explain.
-In Table 1: Did you conduct a comprehensive survey of the plants in Table 1 by yourself, or you get these results from previous research? If it is from previous research please add the reference.
-In Table 1: Please adjust the format of Table 1, and please add the English name followed by scientific name for each plant name like this "Labe-labe (Lablab purpureus), banana (musa), leucena (Leucaena leucocephala)", and used the full name for scientific name at first time after that used only the abbreviation such as; " Solanum sargentum " after that it should be " S. sargentum".
-If you conducted the chemical characteristics of soils, please descript the method that you used. Moreover, the results in Table 1, 2 it should be transfer to the results part not in the material and methods.
- In line no. 125: "ICP-OES" it should be "Inductively Coupled Plasma Optical Emission Spectroscopy (ICP-OES)".
- Table 3 it should be transfer to the results part not in the material and methods.
- In line no. 134: "AFSRYA+, AFSRYA-, PSRYA+, PSRYA- and AFSYL+, AFSYL-, PSYL+, PSYL-.", what this letter meaning "PS", and i think it should be "FS".
-In Figure1: Please add small letter on each photo to mark each element analysis, for-example for P levels it should be see (Figure 1a), and for K levels it should be see (Figure 1b), and so on.......
-In Figure1: The error bar in some chart is higher than the normal values, it should be not more than 30% from the chart bar size, so please re-analysis you data and check the error bar.
-In Figure1: Please improve the quality and the resolution of Figure 1.
- In line no. 214-220: The values of the Cu, Zn, Ni ,...... in this sentence " Cu levels were 74.4% (AFSRYA+) and 234.2% (AFSYL+), Zn levels were 34.8% (AFSRYA+) and 227.9% (AFSYL+), Ni levels were 288.1%(AFSRYA+) and 147.6% (AFSYL+) (Table 5). The Mn levels were 74.4% (AFSRYA+) and Fe levels did not differ between both treatments. Potentially toxic elements (PTEs) such as Cd, Cr, and Pb were unchanged by applying gneiss powder. YL did present a difference between treatments (p < 0.05) (Table 5) but all contents were below the reference values for soil quality in Minas Gerais [43]. " is not found in table 5, please recheck it carefully.
-In Figure2: Please improve the quality and the resolution of Figure 2.
-In Figure3: Please improve the quality and the resolution of Figure 3.
-In Figure3: Please add small letter on each photo to mark each analysis, for-example for electrical it should be see (Figure 3a), and for Bean density it should be see (Figure 3b). Moreover, in line no. 249 and 251: " (Figure 3)" it should be "(Figure 3a) and (Figure 3b).", respectively.
-In Figure 4: Please improve the quality and the resolution of Figure 4.
-In line no. 340 and 357: Please follow the Instructions for Authors, these subtitles it should be italic
"4.1.2. Microbiological changes in the soil" it should be italic "4.1.2. Microbiological changes in the soil". And "4.1.3. Physical changes to the soil " it should be italic "4.1.3. Physical changes to the soil".
-In line no. 396: "PSRYA-" it should be "FSRYA- ".
Comments for author File: 
Comments.pdf
Author Response
We would also like to thank reviewer 4 for his recommendation that the article be accepted after a few amendments.
Suggestion 1: In line no. 24: what is the name of Coffea species that you used in your study, because there are a very large number of species around the world (Ù‘see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coffea), please add the scientific name.
Answer: The species studied was Coffea arabica, what changes is the variety, which was specified in the text as 'Catuaí red and yellow' (line 103).
Suggestion 2: In line no. 59: " Law nº 12.890/2013 and IN 05/2016" it should be "LAW Nº 12.890, of December 10, 2013 and LAW N° 21/05/2016". If you mean these two law.
Answer: we’ve clarified the numbers and dates of the legislation cited
Suggestion 3: In line no. 92 and 93: Please add the geographic location for this location "in the municipality of Divino, in the state of Minas Gerais", for-example "San Francisco is 122.4227 degrees East latitude and 37.7942 degrees North longitude.
Answer: We've made the location clearer and added a map, as suggested by reviewer 3
Suggestion 4: In line no. 93: "is classified as Cwa," it should be " is classified as Cwa [Cwa: C = Mild temperate w = Dry winter a = Hot summer] ".
Answer: We’ve add the complete information
Suggestion 5: In line no. 94: As you mention "Köppen-Geiger classification system", so you mean "Köppen-Geiger climate classification maps" or "Köppen Climate Classification System" which one?
Answer: We’ve indicate that the correct form is Köppen Climate Classification System
Suggestion 6: In line no. 96: What is the meaning of these letters "GA" and "LA" in this sentence "The farming properties are in the Taquaraçu community and are referred to as GA and LA" or you mean "GA (Gilvânia e Anacleto), LA (Luís e Aparecida) ", please explain.
Answer: We’ve add the complete information (These were the names of the farmers who took part in the research)
Suggestion 7: In Table 1: Did you conduct a comprehensive survey of the plants in Table 1 by yourself, or you get these results from previous research? If it is from previous research, please add the reference.
Suggestion 8: In Table 1: Please adjust the format of Table 1, and please add the English name followed by scientific name for each plant name like this "Labe-labe (Lablab purpureus), banana (musa), leucena (Leucaena leucocephala)", and used the full name for scientific name at first time after that used only the abbreviation such as; " Solanum sargentum " after that it should be " S. sargentum".
Answer: The collection of information on the biodiversity of the systems was checked at the beginning of the experiment and it was explained in the text, in the statement of table 1, that the species were identified at the beginning of the study to characterize the area.
Suggestion 9: Please adjust the format of Table 1, and please add the English name followed by scientific name for each plant name like this "Labe-labe (Lablab purpureus), banana (musa), leucena (Leucaena leucocephala)", and used the full name for scientific name at first time after that used only the abbreviation such as; " Solanum sargentum " after that it should be " S. sargentum".
Answer: The names of these species should be kept because the popular names of the plants are mainly Brazilian species, and therefore untranslatable into English.
Suggestion 10; If you conducted the chemical characteristics of soils, please descript the method that you used. Moreover, the results in Table 1, 2 it should be transfer to the results part not in the material and methods.
Answer: The method to describe the chemical characteristics of the soils was inserted, but the results in Table 1 and 2 have to be in material and methods because these data describes the characterization of the experimental area.
Suggestion 11: In line no. 125: "ICP-OES" it should be "Inductively Coupled Plasma Optical Emission Spectroscopy (ICP-OES)".
Answer: As suggested, the name of the equipment has been written in the text and its abbreviation in brackets (line 133).
Suggestion 12: In line no. 134: "AFSRYA+, AFSRYA-, PSRYA+, PSRYA- and AFSYL+, AFSYL-, PSYL+, PSYL-.", what this letter meaning "PS", and i think it should be "FS".
Answer: The abbreviation has been corrected in the text.
Suggestion 13: Table 3 it should be transfer to the results part not in the material and methods.
Answer: This data is part of the characterization of the rock and should therefore be included in the methodology.
SUGGESTION 14: In Figure1: Please add small letter on each photo to mark each element analysis, for-example for P levels it should be see (Figure 1a), and for K levels it should be see (Figure 1b), and so on.......
Answer: As suggested, the letters have been inserted into the graph figures and the appropriate references have been added to the text.
Suggestion 15: In Figure1: The error bar in some chart is higher than the normal values, it should be not more than 30% from the chart bar size, so please re-analysis you data and check the error bar.
Answer: The error bar has been analyzed and corrected in the figure.
Suggestion 16: In Figure1: Please improve the quality and the resolution of Figure 1.
Answer: As suggested, the resolution of the figures was improved.
Suggestion 17: In line no. 214-220: The values of the Cu, Zn, Ni ,...... in this sentence " Cu levels were 74.4% (AFSRYA+) and 234.2% (AFSYL+), Zn levels were 34.8% (AFSRYA+) and 227.9% (AFSYL+), Ni levels were 288.1%(AFSRYA+) and 147.6% (AFSYL+) (Table 5). The Mn levels were 74.4% (AFSRYA+) and Fe levels did not differ between both treatments. Potentially toxic elements (PTEs) such as Cd, Cr, and Pb were unchanged by applying gneiss powder. YL did present a difference between treatments (p < 0.05) (Table 5) but all contents were below the reference values for soil quality in Minas Gerais [43]. " is not found in table 5, please recheck it carefully.
Answer: The word YL has been inserted into Table 5 in the first column of the table.
Suggestion 18: In Figure 2. Please improve the quality and the resolution of Figure 2.
Answer: As suggested, the resolution of the figures was improved.
Suggestion 19: In Figure 3. Please improve the quality and the resolution of Figure 3.
Answer: As suggested, the resolution of the figures was improved.
SUGGESTION 20: In Figure3: Please add small letter on each photo to mark each analysis, for-example for electrical it should be see (Figure 3a), and for Bean density it should be see (Figure 3b). Moreover, in line no. 249 and 251: " (Figure 3)" it should be "(Figure 3a) and (Figure 3b).", respectively.
Answer: As suggested, the letters have been inserted into the graph figures and the appropriate references have been added to the text.
Suggestion 21: In Figure 4: Please improve the quality and the resolution of Figure 4.
Answer: As suggested, the resolution of the figures was improved.
Suggestion 22: In line no. 340 and 357: Please follow the Instructions for Authors, these subtitles it should be italic "4.1.2. Microbiological changes in the soil" it should be italic "4.1.2. Microbiological changes in the soil". And "4.1.3. Physical changes to the soil " it should be italic "4.1.3. Physical changes to the soil".
Answer: The subtitles "4.1.2. Microbiological changes in the soil" it should be italic "4.1.2. Microbiological changes in the soil". And "4.1.3. Physical changes to the soil "4.1.3. Physical changes to the soil" were converted to italic.
Suggestion 23: In line no. 396: "PSRYA-" it should be "FSRYA- ".
Answer: The abbreviation has been corrected in the text.
Round 2
Reviewer 3 Report
Comments and Suggestions for AuthorsI believe the MS has been sufficiently improved for publication in Sustainability.
