Maize Seedling Establishment, Grain Yield and Crop Water Productivity Response to Seed Priming and Irrigation Management in a Mediterranean Arid Environment
, Mohamed F. Awad 2 and Elsayed Mansour 1,*Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
Research issue in which result data presented in manuscript entitled „Maize seedling establishment, grain yield and crop water productivity response to seed priming and irrigation management in a Mediterranean Arid environment” is interesting and very important for dry and hot climate. This research concentrated on plant better water use, improved seed germination and juvenile maize growth, as an effect of hydro-priming.
Hydro-priming and seeds hardening influenced on maize growth, seeds yield and crop water productivity in water stress conditions. Seeds priming and especially their hardening had a great impact on mitigating of the drought effect, maize seed yield increasing and crop water productivity. Hardening improve maize drought stress tolerance.
Manuscript need correction and answer for not clear information:
Lines 165-166. Add information about seeding dry mass measurement? What method used for dry matter content and how seedling drying?
Lines 180-182. Before sowing, 30 kg P unit per ha were 180 added as Ca (H2PO4)2 (15.5% P2O5) and 95 kg K unit per ha were added 181 as K2SO4 (48% K2O). Additionally, 285 kg N unit [(NH4)2SO4, 20.5% N] 182 per ha. Please explain what does mean unit and what type of unit used. I suggest delete.
Lines 198-200. Authors tested two not three priming methods plus control without priming. I suggest change treatment order: instead: unprimed, hydro-priming and hardening I suggest hydro-priming, hardening and unprimed
Line 263. Please correct. Hydro-priming hasn’t significant effect on maize plant height
Line 269. Germination time not increased by 9% but was shorter by 9%.
In title of figure 1 and 2 please add than presented result are average from research years.
Author Response
Dear Editor,
Enclosed please find the revised version of our manuscript entitled “Maize Seedling Establishment, Grain Yield and Crop Water Productivity Response to Seed Priming and Irrigation Management in a Mediterranean Arid Environment” (Manuscript ID: agronomy-1169207). With this letter, we would like to thank you and the reviewers for providing constructive suggestions that gave us the opportunity to improve the quality of the manuscript. After carefully reading all comments provided, a major revision of the manuscript is carried out to fulfill the required suggestions.
Yours sincerely,
Authors
Responses to Reviewers Comments
Reviewer 1:
Research issue in which result data presented in manuscript entitled “Maize seedling establishment, grain yield and crop water productivity response to seed priming and irrigation management in a Mediterranean Arid environment” is interesting and very important for dry and hot climate. This research concentrated on plant better water use, improved seed germination and juvenile maize growth, as an effect of hydro-priming.
Hydro-priming and seeds hardening influenced on maize growth, seeds yield and crop water productivity in water stress conditions. Seeds priming and especially their hardening had a great impact on mitigating of the drought effect, maize seed yield increasing and crop water productivity. Hardening improves maize drought stress tolerance.
Re: We would like to thank the Reviewer for his time dedicated to our manuscript and presenting positive aspects in our manuscript. We sincerely appreciate all valuable comments and suggestions, which helped us to improve the manuscript.
The manuscript needs correction and answer for not clear information:
Lines 165-166. Add information about seedling dry mass measurement? What method used for dry matter content and how seedling dry?
Re: More information has been added (please see lines 178-179)
Lines 180-182. Before sowing, 30 kg P unit per ha were 180 added as Ca (H2PO4)2 (15.5% P2O5) and 95 kg K unit per ha were added 181 as K2SO4 (48% K2O). Additionally, 285 kg N unit [(NH4)2SO4, 20.5% N] 182 per ha. Please explain what does mean unit and what type of unit is used. I suggest delete.
Re: The sentence has been modified (please see lines 193-196)
Lines 198-200. The authors tested two not three priming methods plus control without priming. I suggest change treatment order: instead: unprimed, hydro-priming and hardening I suggest hydro-priming, hardening and unprimed
Re: The sentence has been modified (please see lines 211-212)
Line 263. Please correct. Hydro-priming hasn’t significant effect on maize shoot length
Re: “shoot length” has been deleted (please see line 279)
Line 269. Germination time not increased by 9% but was shorter by 9%.
Re: The sentence has been modified (please see lines 287-289)
In the title of Figures 1 and 2 please add that the presented results are average from research years.
Re: “averaged over two growing seasons” has been added to the titles if figures 1 and 2
Reviewer 2 Report
The manuscript entitled "Maize Seedling Establishment, Grain Yield and Crop Water Productivity Response to Seed Priming and Irrigation Management in a Mediterranean Arid Environment" is very interesting, but there are some minor corrections that need to be made.
There are a number of formal errors in the text that need to be corrected (f.e. lines 52, 61, 216 and more). Especially using the wrong parentheses, subscripts etc.
Due to missing line spacing in the work section, it is not possible to mark more.
For this reason, a check is required before entering work into the system.
Mathematical components (Formulas) in the Material and Methods section need to be modified based on the Instructions for Authors for Agronomy journal
Tables and Figures throughout the work must be marked uniformly, by bold
In table no. 3, I recommend entering units (mg,%, etc.) in the table for parameter abbreviations, not in the name. For better clarity
There is an inaccuracy in chapter 3.5 in line 4
In line 249 - „... blank application of 750 m3 ...“ Blank of what? specify
In connection with the results of laboratory measurements of seed germination, it would be appropriate to state which substrate was used + its properties. If the soil from the research plot was not used, could it not affect the results?
Under what irrigation regime did the laboratory tests take place? Because it's not clear from work
Author Response
Dear Editor,
Enclosed please find the revised version of our manuscript entitled “Maize Seedling Establishment, Grain Yield and Crop Water Productivity Response to Seed Priming and Irrigation Management in a Mediterranean Arid Environment” (Manuscript ID: agronomy-1169207). With this letter, we would like to thank you and the reviewers for providing constructive suggestions that gave us the opportunity to improve the quality of the manuscript. After carefully reading all comments provided, a major revision of the manuscript is carried out to fulfill the required suggestions.
Yours sincerely,
Authors
Responses to Reviewers Comments
Reviewer 2:
The manuscript entitled "Maize Seedling Establishment, Grain Yield and Crop Water Productivity Response to Seed Priming and Irrigation Management in a Mediterranean Arid Environment" is very interesting, but there are some minor corrections that need to be made.
Re: We would like to thank the Reviewer for his time and effort dedicated to our manuscript and presenting positive aspects in our manuscript. We highly appreciate the constructive criticisms which improved the manuscript.
There is a number of formal errors in the text that need to be corrected (f.e. lines 52, 61, 216 and more). Especially using the wrong parentheses, subscripts etc.
Due to missing line spacing in the work section, it is not possible to mark more.
For this reason, a check is required before entering work into the system.
Re: All format errors have been fixed throughout the manuscript
Mathematical components (Formulas) in the Material and Methods section need to be modified based on the Instructions for Authors for Agronomy journal
Re: The mathematical components have been modified to follow the instructions of the Agronomy Journal (please see lines 155-177)
Tables and Figures throughout the work must be marked uniformly, by bold
Re: Tables and Figures have been revised to be bold throughout the manuscript
In table no. 3, I recommend entering units (mg,%, etc.) in the table for parameter abbreviations, not in the name. For better clarity
Re: The units have been added in Table 3
There is an inaccuracy in chapter 3.5 in line 4
Re: The section has been revised
In line 249 - „... blank application of 750 m3 ...“ Blank of what? specify
Re: “blank application” is a uniform amount was applied for all plots until complete seedlings establishment to ensure full germination (has been modified lines 263-265)
In connection with the results of laboratory measurements of seed germination, it would be appropriate to state which substrate was used + its properties. If the soil from the research plot was not used, could it not affect the results?
Re: The seeds were soaked in distilled water and were germinated using moist blotting paper. The germination measurements were performed in the laboratory using moist blotting paper, not soil.
Under what irrigation regime did the laboratory tests take place? Because it's not clear from work
Re: The laboratory tests were not performed under irrigation regimes. The sterilized seeds were soaked in distilled water and re-dried to their original weight. Then seeds were germinated in plastic trays with moist blotting paper and after 11 days germination parameters were recorded.
