Influence of Soil Composition on the Profile and Content of Polyphenols in Habanero Peppers (Capsicum chinense Jacq.)
, Manuel Ramírez-Sucre 1 and Ingrid Rodríguez-Buenfil 1,*Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
The work is interesting, but there are some comments:
line 121 - is: „K2SO4 and 2.0 mL of CuSO4/H2SO4” should be: K2SO4 and 2.0 mL of CuSO4/H2SO4
The work is interesting, but there are some comments:
line 150 – is „H2O” should be H2O
How was the extract prepared to determine the antioxidant potential by DPPH ?
What statistical tests were used to examine the significance of differences?
In how many repetitions the analyses were performed?
The peppers were grown on four dates. Which crops were used for research?
The Methodology should inform that the results are presented as mean values and standard deviations
Were the differences in polyphenol sums statistically significant?
Fig. 1 - no information what the letters indicate
line 264 - It seems unnecessary to separate subchapter 3. 4 Statistical analysis, because the elements of statistical analysis are previously presented
The results presented in Fig. 2 were already presented in a large part (the same values are presented again)
Author Response
Please see the attachment
Author Response File: 
Author Response.docx
Reviewer 2 Report
The manuscript presents the results of the effects of three soils and four planting dates on the composition of phenolics of habanero peppers. Phenolics are determined by UPLC-DAD. The results are relevant and of interest. The manuscript is generally well written, but needs some improvements before it can be published.
Suggested changes are the following:
-Title: change "on Habanero" by "in Habanero"
-Line 16: "were grown" instead of "grew"
-Line 18: delete "that correspond to different dates of the year" (it has already been said)
-Line 19: "for" instead of "by"
-Line 22: The sentence "While ABTS...green peppers" needs to be reformulated. I do not understand why you comment this result here and not others. I think it can be removed.
-Line 31: "vegetable species" instead of "horticultural specie" (species is singular)
-Line 52: add ";" after plants
-Line 54: "having been" instead of "is"
-Line 95: Please dine what is "triple 18". Throughout the manuscript, for all consumables and equipment and software include the manufacturer, city and country. Indicate the amount of fertilizer applied per plant and/or concentration in irrigation water.
-Section 2.2.: You must indicate how many samples you analyzed for each soil.
-Section 2.3: You must indicate how many samples you analyzed for each combination of soil, maturity stage and planting date.
-Section 2.9: Indicate what statistical test was used for separation of means.
-Line 205: You can remove the sentence "It is observed...three soils".
-Tables 1 and 2: indicate that the results are mean±standard error (or standard deviation). Indicate the test used for separation of means. What do the results express? the average over the four planting dates? This should be indicated.
-Figure 1: What do the results express? the average over the four planting dates? This should be indicated. What do the error bars express? Indicate what test was used for separation of means. I do not understand why in some cases there is overlap between error means, but the differences are statistically significant. For example for antioxidant activity in red soil the bars between green and orange are overlapped, but the tests indicate that there are statistically significant differences. Please check to avoid inconsistencies.
-Figure 4: Indicate that averages are over the four dates (if this is the case). Indicate what the error bars express.
-Line 230: "may be related to" instead of "may be to".
-Lines 362-367: these are results. They should not be in the discussion. Include this in the results. It is a relevant result and results must not be presented in the discussion.
-Line 399: "This" instead of "These".
Author Response
Please see the attachment
Author Response File: Author Response.docx
Reviewer 3 Report
The publication under the title Influence of Soil Composition on the Profile and 3 Content of Polyphenols on Habanero Peppers 4 (Capsicum chinense Jacq.) seems to be interesting. The work is based on many analyzes of the chemical composition of soil and peppers, which clearly determines their composition and propertiesHowever, below are some comments that may be helpful:
- a few sentences of theoretical introduction are missing in the abstract
- line 76 missing dot.
- Paragraph 60-73 seems to be more appropriate for the discussion, to me. However, I leave it for the authors to consider.
- Table 4 shows very large discrepancies for the various harvests of peppers. The authors explain this by changing environmental conditions, but it requires support from the literature
Author Response
Please see the attachment
Author Response File: Author Response.docx
Round 2
Reviewer 2 Report
The manuscript incorporates the suggestions I made and I find it acceptable for publication.
Just one minor typographical issue: In line 210 "last" should be "least". The authors or editorial staff should change this.
