Proposal for Integrated Management of Verticillium Wilt Disease in Avocado Cultivar Hass Crops

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

I applaud the clarity of this paper.  The experiments were complicated, yet the authors found an efficient way to present all the data.  I am impressed with the detailed measurements of V. dahliae densities throughout the experiments.  I had a few questions.

1) How did you determine the fungicide levels to test in petri dishes and in the net house and field experiments?  It would be good to cite a source for this as well.

2) It is necessary to show a scheme or picture of the drainage treatment.  I understand it was not effective in controlling the disease, but I don't understand what was done and what effect it had on soil moisture in the plots.

3) In the calculation of the cost/benefit ratio, you provide a column with the variable costs associated with each treatment.  I think you should also include a column of the value (yield) for each treatment.  I am skeptical that the yield values were that much higher for treatments T7 and T8 relative to T1.  Certainly the cost of T7 and T8 were much higher than T1.  I liked your discussion where you pointed out the weakness of the T1 (fungicide only) treatment, but I didn't think it's yield data was different than for T7 and T8.

4) In the citations, you have consistently capitalized all first letters of each word in the titles.  You should only capitalize the first letter of the first word in a journal article title.  The names of the plant pathogens like Verticillium dahliae (genus name it capital for the first letter, but species name is small letters.  Also it should be in italics.  So almost all your citations need some corrections in format.

Author Response

This letter serves to inform that the corrections of the manuscript entitled “Proposal for integrated management of Verticillium wilt disease in avocado cultivar Hass crops”, by myself and my colleague Juan Morales-Osorio, for consideration for publication in the important journal Agronomy, were successfully incorporated. We suggest that under last version the editor and reviewers could considerer our manuscript for publication in the journal Agronomy.

We found the reviewers to be helpful, and we have responded to each of their comments in detail. Based on the reviewer comments and suggestions, we have made modifications to the original manuscript and proofread it carefully.

We are very grateful to the reviewer, as his comments were very helpful to improve the manuscript. We detail our responses to each of the comments below and we also refer to the line numbers concerning the comments. We consider that the manuscript has been highly improved and we hope that this contribution will now prove the quality required for publication in your journal. In addition, the language of the document thoroughly reviewed and corrected as requested, process made by a native in English language

 

Reviewer comments

 

Reviewer 1

General comments

I applaud the clarity of this paper.  The experiments were complicated, yet the authors found an efficient way to present all the data.  I am impressed with the detailed measurements of V. dahliae densities throughout the experiments.  I had a few questions.

 

1. How did you determine the fungicide levels to test in petri dishes and in the net house and field experiments?  It would be good to cite a source for this as well.

R: Done.

We agree with the reviewer and a text were added as suggested. The doses of fungicides under in vitro, net house and field condition were determined based on previous reports associated with the use of different molecules to control of Verticillium species. Please see lines 139-145.

The following papers were used to identify the doses that were evaluated:

Bubici, G.; Amenduni, M.; Colella, C.; D’Amico, M.; Cirulli, M. Efficacy of Aacibenzolar-S-Methyl and Ttwo Sstrobilurins, Aazoxystrobin and Ttrifloxystrobin, for the Ccontrol of Ccorky Rroot of Ttomato and Verticillium Wwilt of Eeggplant. Crop Protection 2006, 8, 814–820, doi:10.1016/j.cropro.2005.06.008.

Rekanovic, E.; Milijasevic, S.; Todorovic, B.; Potocnik, I. Possibilities of Bbiological and Cchemical Ccontrol of Verticillium Wwilt in Ppepper. Phytoparasitica 2007, 35, 436, doi:10.1007/BF03020601.

Thorat, S.; More, B.; Konde, B. Chemical Ccontrol of Verticillium Wwilt of Eeggplant (Solanum Mmelongena L.) by Ssoil and Pplant Aapplication. Hind. Antibiot. Bull 1976, 18, 117–118.

 

2. It is necessary to show a scheme or picture of the drainage treatment. I understand it was not effective in controlling the disease, but I don't understand what was done and what effect it had on soil moisture in the plots.

R: Done

We agree with the reviewer, and we make a scheme with important notes on the design of the drainage applied to the experimental units. Please see the supplementary information 5.

 

3. In the calculation of the cost/benefit ratio, you provide a column with the variable costs associated with each treatment. I think you should also include a column of the value (yield) for each treatment.  I am skeptical that the yield values were that much higher for treatments T7 and T8 relative to T1.  Certainly the cost of T7 and T8 were much higher than T1.  I liked your discussion where you pointed out the weakness of the T1 (fungicide only) treatment, but I didn't think it's yield data was different than for T7 and T8.

R: Done

We agree with reviewer and in the table 1 we included a better description of all aspects as suggested (variable cost, yield, and reduction on yield). Please see Table 1.

 

4. In the citations, you have consistently capitalized all first letters of each word in the titles. You should only capitalize the first letter of the first word in a journal article title.  The names of the plant pathogens like Verticillium dahliae (genus name it capital for the first letter, but species name is small letters.  Also it should be in italics.  So almost all your citations need some corrections in format.

R: Done

We agree with reviewer and in references section we included a better description of all aspects as suggested. Please see lines 106-108 and 197-203.

Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Reviewer 2 Report

Revision report of the manuscript is attached herewith.

Overall, bibliography should be strongly improved with more recent references and discussed accordingly in the "Discussion" section.

Comments for author File: Comments.pdf

Author Response

This letter serves to inform that the corrections of the manuscript entitled “Proposal for integrated management of Verticillium wilt disease in avocado cultivar Hass crops”, by myself and my colleague Juan Morales-Osorio, for consideration for publication in the important journal Agronomy, were successfully incorporated. We suggest that under last version the editor and reviewers could considerer our manuscript for publication in the journal Agronomy.

We found the reviewers to be helpful, and we have responded to each of their comments in detail. Based on the reviewer comments and suggestions, we have made modifications to the original manuscript and proofread it carefully.

We are very grateful to the reviewer, as his comments were very helpful to improve the manuscript. We detail our responses to each of the comments below and we also refer to the line numbers concerning the comments. We consider that the manuscript has been highly improved and we hope that this contribution will now prove the quality required for publication in your journal. In addition, the language of the document thoroughly reviewed and corrected as requested, process made by a native in English language. 

Reviewer 2.

General comments

Overall, bibliography should be strongly improved with more recent references and discussed accordingly in the "Discussion" section

 

Abstract

1. -L.13. ….of the genus Verticillium spp. ….

R: Done

We agree with reviewer, and we included all aspects as suggested.

 

2. -L.16. “Strategies tested included fungicides, beneficial and antagonistic microorganisms…”.

Specify what fungicides (names…) and beneficial microorganisms (genus and species).

R: Done

We agree with reviewer, and we included all aspects as suggested.

 

3. -L.20. Verticillium dahliae

R: Done

We agree with reviewer, and we included all aspects as suggested.

 

Introduction

1. L.36. Verticillium albo-atrum…….Verticillium dahliae…….

R: Done

We agree with reviewer, and we included all aspects as suggested.

 

2. -L.43. ….application of synthetic chemicals……

R: Done

We agree with reviewer, and we included all aspects as suggested.

 

3. -L.47. V. albo-atrum….

R: Done

We agree with reviewer, and we included all aspects as suggested.

 

4. -L.66-70. Connect the two sentences in only one.

R: Done

We agree with reviewer, and we included all aspects as suggested.

5. -L.69. Improve the quoted references [23,24] with other most recent. You can read the following

regarding the use of next-generation (tailored) green composts against V. dahliae on eggplant:

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.scienta.2016.07.027, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocontrol.2018.05.020

and https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cropro.2019.104870.

R: done

We agree with reviewer and in the introduction section we included a better description of all aspects as suggested.

 

7. L.78. Phytophthora cinnamomi.

R: Done

We agree with reviewer, and we included all aspects as suggested.

 

M&M

1. L.91. Experimental site.

R: Done

We agree with reviewer, and we included all aspects as suggested.

 

2. L.116. V. dahliae

R: Done

We agree with reviewer, and we included all aspects as suggested.

 

3. L.119,127. Trichoderma sp. strains (TAF22, TC2, and TC3). How it is possible to differentiate

between three different Trichoderma strains if the species is not known? Please explain and indicate

the specie of each strain (or, alternatively, they are isolates of the same specie?).

R: done

We agree with the reviewer, and although the isolated strains present clearly identified morphological differences, the group is highly variable and morphology is not a single classification criterion, for which it, we decided to change strain by morphotype

 

4. L.144. V. dahliae strains

R: Done

We agree with reviewer, and we included all aspects as suggested.

 

5. L.169. Complete the trial description according to the paragraph title (inoculation with beneficial

microorganism).

R: done

We agree with reviewer, and we included all aspects as suggested.

 

6. 266. “Experimental design and statistical analyses” as title of paragraph 2.7 is recommended.

R: Done

We agree with reviewer, and we included all aspects as suggested.

 

Results

1. -L.286. Quote (Figure 1B) at the end of the sentence.

R: Done

We agree with reviewer, and we included all aspects as suggested.

 

2. -L.362-363, 399-400. Delete the “bold font”. It is confusing for reader.

R: Done

We agree with reviewer, and we included all aspects as suggested.

 

Discussion & Conclusions

1. -L.445-446. Quote the sentence and specify where it is.

R: Done

We agree with reviewer, and we included all aspects as suggested

 

.2. -L.454-458. Quote the sentences.

R: Done

We agree with reviewer, and we included all aspects as suggested.

 

3. -L.520. Improve the quoted references [6,14,47] with other most recent. You can read the following

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rhisph.2020.100192 to improve the role of soil organic matter in disease

suppression of soil.

R: Done

We agree with reviewer and in the introduction section we included a better description of all aspects as suggested.

 

4. Move the sentence at the end of “Conclusions” section, but without the reference [12].

R: Done

We agree with reviewer, and we included all aspects as suggested.

Supplementary Materials

1. -L.564. Specify here the list and the contents of the “Supplementary Materials” file quoted

throughout the main text.

R: Done

We agree with reviewer, and we included all aspects as suggested.

 

Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Round 2

Reviewer 2 Report

The paper has been improved accordingly with the suggestions given by the reviewers. Now, it is ready for accepting it.