Mlo Resistance to Powdery Mildew (Blumeria graminis f. sp. hordei) in Barley Landraces Collected in Yemen
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
This is an interesting study focusing on barley landraces and resistance to powdery mildew isolates. The manuscript studies the possible presence of Mlo resistance and the results should be used in barley breeding programs. The manuscript contains some interesting information but suffers from some weaknesses listed below. The wording should be improved and I do have a number of comments that could probably be resolved by minor revision.
Introduction
lines 59-61 This sentence is unnecessary and should be deleted.
line 72-73 This sentence (‘The earliest...’) is unnecessary and should be deleted.
lines 74-81 This paragraph should be rephrased and shortened. The aim is not detailed enough and should be specified more.
Materials and methods
lines 109-110 This sentence (‘Isolates...’) is confusing, should be rephrased.
line 139 Figure 1 Unnecessary figure, should be deleted.
line 144 What does population mean here? Does it mean plants collected from the same place or plants from the same landrace?
line 147 Is the first leaf the cotyledon? If yes, define it properly.
lines 157-160 Confusing paragraph, should be rephrased.
Results
line 185 replace ‘resistant lines’ with ‘resistant line’
lines 187-188 confusing sentence, should be rephrased.
Discussion
lines 212-214 Confusing and too long sentence, should be rephrased.
lines 223-224 Confusing sentence, should be rephrased.
lines 249-250 Replace ‘be no very big surprise’ with ‘should not be surprising’
References are missing starting from no 26. Further references should be added to the text.
Author Response
Please see the attachment.
Author Response File: 
Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 2 Report
An interesting study but conclusions should be confirmed with the use of appropriate molecular markers that can detect Mlo resistance genes. Please check your manuscript carefully for English grammar and syntax.
Line 23: please change “should “ to “could”
Lines 39-40: please delete “of barley”
Line 43: please change “word” to “world”
Line 45: please delete “they”
Lines 46-47: Please correct the sentence “A major way to control….. was the incorporation of new….”
Lines 50-51: please delete both “ of barley”
Lines 93-95: The sentence is very unclear. Please correct the sentence.
Lines 157-158: The sentence is very unclear. Please correct the sentence.
Line 159: please change “they grown” to “they were grown”
Line 172: The sentence is very unclear. Please correct the sentence.
Lines 202-203: please change “there is …..needed” to “no crosses are needed”
Line 206: please add “display” after “often”
Line 209: please change “is showing” to “shows”
Line 210: Al Bayda city
Line 217: please delete “barley”
Lines 217-219: The sentence in unclear. Please modify.
Line 219: Please delete “of barley”
Line 221: please delete “factor”
Line 225: please change “genotypic mixture” to “a mixture of different genotypes”
Line 226: please change “do” to “does”
Line 227: please modify “often occurs” and “phenotypically diverse”
Line 228: please add “on the genetic level”
Line 229: please change “their” to “its”
Line 231: please add “because of its”
Line 235: please change “is” to “are”
Line 236: please change “presented” to “ this study”
Lines 249-250: please change “should be no very big surprise” to “was not unexpected”
Line 252: please add “ and there are many…”
Line 271: Please change “ it is also….needed” to “A pre-breeding effort is also needed”
Line 272: please add “This is a necessary step”
My suggestions regarding the manuscript, apart from the grammatical or spelling issues, are:
- The lack of references mostly in the introduction and less in the discussion sections. Further references are needed and also references no 27 and so on are missing.
- Also, more details are needed in the material and method section, regarding the screening tests and the statistical analysis that was used to extract the results.
Author Response
Please see the attachment.
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
