Qualitative Production of Mixture Silage within a Sustainable Concept
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
Comments and Suggestions for AuthorsDear authors,
I just have a few suggestions:
In Methods: I suggest excluding the results from the CF variable.
In Results: In the Tables, I suggest standardizing the letter “a” for the highest value and the letter “b” for the lowest value (for example, dry matter losses, Table 3). Please standardize the font size in the text.
In Discussion: The discussion is adequate, however, the following sentences are repeated and I suggest citing both references for the same sentence. Line 414-417: [31] reported that when plants enter advanced growth stages and senescence, lignin-forming compounds are formed. [32] reported that when plants enter advanced growth stages and senescence, lignin-forming compounds are formed.
In Conclusions: I suggest informing which of the perennial grasses would be most recommended for intercropping with soybeans, or, if you recommended both, informing the main advantages and limitations of each one.
Author Response
Dear Reviewer
We are sharing the revised version of the manuscript sustainability-3094148 “Qualitative production of mixture silage within a sustainable concept”. We are grateful for their valuable comments and suggestions. They were very constructive for the manuscript. We made the corrections suggested. The changes in the manuscript are in the yellow colour. Please find below the response to comments.
1) In Methods: I suggest excluding the results from the CF variable.
We appreciate your suggestion. In the study, we used a combination of legumes with a high fiber content. Thus, we chose to keep the CF for methodological reasons to maintain a standard of characterization.
2) In Results: In the Tables, I suggest standardizing the letter “a” for the highest value and the letter “b” for the lowest value (for example, dry matter losses, Table 3). Please standardize the font size in the text.
Thank you for your suggestion. We changed the letters in the tables. In relation to your comment, “Please standardize the font size in the text”, we used the template from Sustainability that has fixed standardize.
3) In Discussion: The discussion is adequate, however, the following sentences are repeated and I suggest citing both references for the same sentence. Line 414-417: [31] reported that when plants enter advanced growth stages and senescence, lignin-forming compounds are formed. [32] reported that when plants enter advanced growth stages and senescence, lignin-forming compounds are formed.
Thank you for your suggestion. We made the correction.
4) In Conclusions: I suggest informing which of the perennial grasses would be most recommended for intercropping with soybeans, or, if you recommended both, informing the main advantages and limitations of each one.
Thank you for your suggestion. We made alteration.
Best regards!
Author Response File: 
Author Response.docx
Reviewer 2 Report
Comments and Suggestions for AuthorsDear Authors
It was interesting to review this manuscript. Please see comments made in different sections of the manuscript.
In line 9, please replace the phrase "the food animal" "animal feed"
In line 16, please add "fiber" after neutral detergent and acid detergent.
In line 46, Authors says "....favorable and unfavorable characteristics of both could be improved" please rephrase this statement.
Line 76, "....butyric production (above 1%)" above 1% of what?
In line 95 - 95, since maize intercrop was not use in the study reported here, so delete the phrase "and maize intercropped with tropical grasses were grown in the autumn wither season"
In figure 1, "dec/2021" it should be "dec/2020"
in table 2, the purpose of putting letters in on means is to indicates significant differences between the means. Thus, there is no need to put same letters because it means there is no significant differences between the means. Thus parameters that does differ across the treatments there is not need put letter "a" in them, e.g. check Cellulose, IVDDM etc.
in tale 3, please consistent with use of letters as indicate significance between the means. Normal letter "a" is assign into highest mean and next letter to second highest if they are significantly different with the previous one. For example in parameter Dry matter losses, mean 6.52 is assigned letter "b" yet is higher than the other two means from other treatment. in addition, this is not consistent with what you did in tale 2 above.
In line 357, please delete the words "losses" after proteolysis.
In line 403, please replace the word "food" by "feed"
The sentence in line 415 to 417 is duplicate of the sentence in line 414 to 415 with different reference.
in line 417, please add "it" before "is" and "that" before "silage"
Author Response
Dear Reviewer
We are sharing the revised version of the manuscript sustainability-3094148 “Qualitative production of mixture silage within a sustainable concept”. We are grateful for their valuable comments and suggestions. They were very constructive for the manuscript. We made the corrections suggested. The changes in the manuscript are in the yellow colour. Please find below the response to comments.
1) In line 9, please replace the phrase "the food animal" "animal feed". 10) In line 403, please replace the word "food" by "feed"
Thank you for your observation. We made the substitution.
2) In line 16, please add "fiber" after neutral detergent and acid detergent.
Thank you for your observation. We added.
3) In line 46, Authors says "....favorable and unfavorable characteristics of both could be improved" please rephrase this statement. 4) Line 76, "....butyric production (above 1%)" above 1% of what? 11) The sentence in line 415 to 417 is duplicate of the sentence in line 414 to 415 with different reference. 12) In line 417, please add "it" before "is" and "that" before "silage"
Thank you for your observation. We made alterations in these sentences.
5) In line 95 - 95, since maize intercrop was not use in the study reported here, so delete the phrase "and maize intercropped with tropical grasses were grown in the autumn wither season"
Thank you for your suggestion. We deleted the phrase.
6) In figure 1, "dec/2021" it should be "dec/2020"
Thank you for your observation. We made this correction.
7) In table 2, the purpose of putting letters in on means is to indicates significant differences between the means. Thus, there is no need to put same letters because it means there is no significant differences between the means. Thus parameters that does differ across the treatments there is not need put letter "a" in them, e.g. check Cellulose, IVDDM etc.
Thank you for your suggestion. We deleted the letter when there were no significant differences between the means.
8) In tale 3, please consistent with use of letters as indicate significance between the means. Normal letter "a" is assign into highest mean and next letter to second highest if they are significantly different with the previous one. For example in parameter Dry matter losses, mean 6.52 is assigned letter "b" yet is higher than the other two means from other treatment. In addition, this is not consistent with what you did in tale 2 above.
Thank you for your suggestion. We changed the letters in the tables.
9) In line 357, please delete the words "losses" after proteolysis.
Thank you for your suggestion. We deleted the word.
Best regards!
Author Response File: Author Response.docx
Reviewer 3 Report
Comments and Suggestions for AuthorsThis study aimed to evaluate the chemical composition, fermentative parameters, and in vitro digestibility of dry matter and organic matter of silages from soybeans intercropped with tropical grasses. The result showed that the use of tropical grasses as a component to improve the quality of silage from soybeans. It is an interesting research work and will be useful for the readers of the journal. However, the manuscript also needs revisions. The detailed comments are as follows:
1. L67 adding Bolson et al., (2021) or previous, instead of of 5] reported that, same elsewhere
2. L85 Change “dry matter” to “DM”
3. L155, L270, L273, L442, L445 and L446 Same as L85
4. L144 Adding abbreviations (DM, CP, CF...)
5. L268 Change “organic matter” to “OM”
6. Table 2, Table 3, Table 4 and Table 5. Can you unite the units inside (% or g kg-1)?
7. L292-L299 Replace “content” with “concentration” (Fluids: concentration; Solid: content)
8. L300-L309 and L315-L330 The font size of this paragraph is inconsistent with the rest of the text
9. L355 Change “may reflect” to “reflected”
10. L356 Change “is” to “was”
11. L358 Same as L355
12. L360 Change “has” to “had”
13. L385-L392... Same as L356, please check the whole article.
14. L569 Thicken “1991”
15. L627 Italicize “Acta Sci. Agron.”
Author Response
Dear Reviewer
We are sharing the revised version of the manuscript sustainability-3094148 “Qualitative production of mixture silage within a sustainable concept”. We are grateful for their valuable comments and suggestions. They were very constructive for the manuscript. We made the corrections suggested. The changes in the manuscript are in the yellow colour. Please find below the response to comments.
1) L67 adding Bolson et al., (2021) or previous, instead of of [5] reported that, same elsewhere. 2) L85 Change “dry matter” to “DM”. 3) L155, L270, L273, L442, L445 and L446 Same as L855. 4) L144 Adding abbreviations (DM, CP, CF...). 5) L268 Change “organic matter” to “OM”. 7) L292-L299 Replace “content” with “concentration” (Fluids: concentration; Solid: content) 8) L300-L309 and L315-L330 The font size of this paragraph is inconsistent with the rest of the text. 9) L355 Change “may reflect” to “reflected”. 10) L356 Change “is” to “was”. 11) L358 Same as L355. 12) L360 Change “has” to “had” 13) L385-L392... Same as L356, please check the whole article. 14) L569 Thicken “1991”. 15) L627 Italicize “Acta Sci. Agron.”
Thank you for your observations. We made the alterations suggested in the manuscript.
6) Table 2, Table 3, Table 4 and Table 5. Can you unite the units inside (% or g kg-1)?
Thank you for your suggestion. The units are according to the established methods. Thus, we cannot make these alterations for methodological reasons. In addition, the results in tables 4 and 5 are the percentage values of proportion and contributions of the plants to silage parameters.
Best regards!
Author Response File: Author Response.docx
Reviewer 4 Report
Comments and Suggestions for AuthorsThe experiment design of the whole paper is reasonable and the discussion is sufficient, which is of great research significance.
It is suggested to supplement the annual biological yield data of different treatment groups （soy, S+AGG, S+CG）
Author Response
Dear Reviewer
We are sharing the revised version of the manuscript sustainability-3094148 “Qualitative production of mixture silage within a sustainable concept”. We are grateful for their valuable comments and suggestions. They were very constructive for the manuscript. We made the corrections suggested. The changes in the manuscript are in the yellow colour. Please find below the response to comments.
1) It is suggested to supplement the annual biological yield data of different treatment groups （soy, S+AGG, S+CG）
Thank you for your comment. These data are in the article: Batista, K.; Giacomini, A.A.; Gerdes, L. Mattos, W.T.; Otsuk, I.P. Potential interaction of soybean-grass intercropping with residual nitrogen for a no-tillage system implementation. Acta Scientiarum. Agronomy 2024, 46, e62944. Doi: 10.4025/actasciagron.v46i1.62944. Published on October 17, 2023.
Best regards!
Author Response File: Author Response.docx
