Productivity, Morphology and Chemical Composition of Brachiaria spp. Ecotypes, under Two Solar Illumination Intensities, in Yucatan, Mexico

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Dear authors,

The manuscript titled 'Productivity, morphology and chemical composition of Brachiaria spp. ecotypes, under two solar illumination intensities, in Yucatan, Mexico' is addressing an interesting topic of research for publication at Agronomy. See below a list of comments/suggestions to be applied by the authors in order to improve its quality before acceptance:

L22-23 Replace 're-' by 'res-'.

L27 Replace 'higher' by 'highest'.

L29-30 Replace 'char-' by 'cha-'.

L32 Replace ', ,' by ','.

L35 Replace 'Livestock' by 'Livestock feeding' and 'has depended on few' by 'is managed under a few'.

L38 Replace 'of ruminants' by 'for animal feeding'.

L41 Replace 'mod-' by 'mo-'.

L55-56 Use scientific nomenclature to refer to 'Acacia mangium, Gliricidia sepium and Leucaena leucocephala'.

L70 Replace 'long ago' by 'time ago'.

L72 Use scientific nomenclature to refer to 'Megathyrsus maximus'. 

L89 Replace ', a mean ...' by '. Mean ...'.

L90 Delete 'and a'.

L101-104 Explain how did you get low and high solar radiation intensities.

L107 Use scientific nomenclature to refer to 'Megathyrsus maximus'. 

L115 Replace 'B.' by 'Brachiaria' and 'M.' by 'Megathyrsus'.

L119 Replace 'Meas-' by 'Mea-'.

L126 Replace 'lower' by 'lowest'.

L127 Replace 'higher' by 'highest'.

L130 Replace 'lower' by 'lowest'.

L131 Replace 'higher' by 'highest'.

Table 1 Use scientific nomenclature correctly to refer to scientific name.

L137 Replace 'kind soils' by 'kind of soils'.

L138 Replace 'on top on' by 'on top of' and 'machin-' by 'machi-'.

L139 Explain how did you do that by hand.

L146 Replace 'Plant' by 'plant'.

L149 Replace 'meas-' by 'mea-'.

L159 Replace 'for-' by 'fo-'.

L161 Replace '50 ºC' by '50ºC'.

L162 Replace 'percentage dry matter' by 'percentage of dry matter'.

L166 Replace '200 gr' by '200 g'.

L172 Delere '(for the first harvest)' and 'day' by 'days'.

L173 Replace 'harvest' by 'harvests'.

L176 Replace 'number' by 'numbers'.

L177 Replace 'fol-' by 'fo-'.

L179 Add number to the following reference 'Moore et al.'.

L181-182 Replace 'percent plant' by 'percent of plant' and 'of' by 'for'.

L186 Replace 'sample' by 'samples', 'dry' by 'the dry' and 'was' by 'were'.

L188 Replace '(ADF)' by '(ADF) were carried out'.

L192 Delete an space before '%'.

L202-203 Replace 'rec-' by 're-'.

L204 Replace 'meas-' by 'mea-'.

L208 Replace '50 cm ...,' by '50 cm, for ...'.

L211 Replace 'higher' by 'highest'.

L212 Replace 'lighter' by 'lightest'.

L216 Replace 'and' by 'showing'.

L229 Replace 'higher' by 'highest'.

L230 Replace 'lower' by 'lowest'.

L234 Replace 'higher' by 'highest' and 'lower' by 'lowest'.

L235 Replace 'regime they' by 'regime to which they'.

L245 Replace 'fol-' by 'fo-'.

L246 Replace 'of the rest' by 'by the rest'.

Figure 2 Replace 'of ecotypes' by 'between ecotypes' and use scientific nomenclature to refer to 'Megathyrsus maximus'. 

L260 Replace 'higher' by 'highest' and 'lower' by 'lowest'.

L262 Replace 'higher' by 'highest'.

L265-266 Use scientific nomenclature to refer to 'M. maximus'. 

L270 Replace 'lower' by 'lowest'.

L271 Replace 'higher' by 'highest'.

L272 Replace 'higher' by 'highest' and 'lower' by 'lowest'.

L273 Replace 'weren`t' by 'were not'.

L275 Replace 'higher' by 'highest' and 'lower' by 'lowest'.

L286-287 Replace 'higher' by 'highest' and 'lower' by 'lowest'.

L287 Replace 'didn't' by 'did not'.

L289 Replace 'lower' by 'lowest'.

Figure 3 Replace 'interaction of' by 'interaction between', use scientific nomenclature to refer to 'Megathyrsus maximus' and replace 'rep-' by 're-'.

Table 2 Use scientific nomenclature to refer to 'Megathyrsus maximus' and replace 'No difference was ...' by 'No differences were ...'.

L318 Replace 'this yields were harvested' by 'that it was reached'.

L322 Replace 'año' by 'year'.

L323 Add references to previous literature reports.

L328 Replace 'However, there was a trend that is of interest discussing. The ...' by 'However, the ...'.

L330 Replace 'the greater' by 'the highest' and 'This result are' by 'This result is'.

L331 Replace 'reports' by 'reported'.

L332-333 Could you, please, go further in this explanation?

L336 replace '... (Figure A1a)' by '... was found (Figure A1a)' and 'sim-' by 'si-'.

L339-340 Reformulate this sentence.

L342 Replace 'took place under' by 'showed'.

L343 Delete ', let's say,'.

L345 Delete '(8% divided by the constant value of 6.25 = 1.28%)'.

L345-349 Reformulate this sentence.

L348 Replace 'in higher' by 'at higher' and 'lower' by 'lowest'.

L350 Replace 'lower' by 'lowest'.

L351 Replace 'higher' by 'greater'.

L354 Replace 'lower' by 'lowest' and 'higher' by 'highest'.

L366 Replace 'sp.' by 'spp.'.

L369 Replace 'mean values' by 'mean values were'.

L370 Replace ', are' by ', which are'.

L376 Replace 'coincide with' by 'are similar to'.

L377 Replace 'Brachiaria' by 'Brachiaria spp.'.

L379 Replace 'Brachiaria' by 'Brachiaria spp.' and '83%' by '83%, respectively'.

L380 Replace '80%' by '80%, respectively'.

L381 Replace '10,20,30,' by '10, 20, 30,' and '40 cm' by '40 cm, respectively'.

L382 Replace 'in study' by 'in the study'.

L383 Replace '84%' by '84%, respectively'.

L385 Replace 'and' by 'while'.

L388 Replace 'the Cruz' by 'at Cruz'.

L389 Replace 'study were grazed every ...' by 'study's grazing was done every ...'.

L395 Replace 'Brachiaria' by 'Brachiaria spp.'.

L396 Replace 'produc-' by 'produ-'.

L403 Replace 'of the stems fraction' by 'of stem fraction'.

L405 Delete a space before 'and' and after '29%'.

L412 Replace 'In the present study' by 'At the present study,'.

L416 Replace 'it is advertised as' by 'it was advertised'.

L429 Replace 'lower' by 'lowest'.

L436 Delete a space before 'This'.

L444 Replace ', Yu' by '. Yu'.

L464 Replace 'higher' by 'highest'.

L466 Replace 'ap-' by 'a-'.

L471 Replace 'lower' by 'lowest' and 'higher' by 'highest'.

L478 Delete a space after '(61)'.

L478-479 Use scientific nomenclature to refer to those species.

L479 Replace 'reported' by 'reporting'.

L480 Replace 'Among these variables' by 'such as'.

L482 Replace 'study' by 'work'.

L489-490 Use scientific nomenclature to refer to those species.

L491 Use scientific nomenclature to refer to those species.

L491 Replace 'Brachiaria' by 'Brachiaria spp.'.

L496 Delete a space before 'of yield'.

L502 Replace 'Brachiaria' by 'Brachiaria spp.'.

L505 Replace 'concluded there' by 'concluded that there'.

L506 Replace 'Brachiaria' by 'Brachiaria spp.'.

L509 Replace 'adaptabil-' by 'adaptabi-'.

L521 Replace 'gazing' by 'grazing'.

L530 Replace 'of ecotypes' by 'between ecotypes'.

L530 Use scientific nomenclature to refer to this specie.

L531 Replace 'forge' by 'forage'.

L534 Replace 'of ecotypes' by 'between ecotypes'.

L534 Use scientific nomenclature to refer to this specie.

L536 Use scientific nomenclature to refer to this specie.

L541 Add a space between acronyms and %.

L542 Use scientific nomenclature to refer to this specie.

L543 Replace 'var-' by 'va-'.

L560 Delete a space before 'Finally,'.

L567 Replace 'of ecotypes' by 'between ecotypes'.

L567 Use scientific nomenclature to refer to this specie.

L568 Replace 'on' by 'in' and 'thirds' by 'third'.

L645 Replace 'grassl.' by 'Grassl.' and 'trop.' by 'Trop.'.

L664 Add pages to this reference.

L706 Complete this reference.

Best regards,

Reviewer.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Author Response

Dear Reviewer;

Thank you very much for your patience to in depth review our manucript. Because of the correction, point by ponit, of your observations, we are sure that our manuscript is much better.

Please see the attachment. 

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 2 Report

The authors investigated a relevant topic on the effect of shading on grasses (Brachiaria spp. ecotypes) growth characteristics and forage chemical composition, to select the best ecotype to be cultivated under trees.

The experiment is well-design, and the manuscript was well-written.

However, some minor issues raised.

I advise English editing, and correct grammar and other mistakes. Exemples. Lines 319. Tree instead of three. Line 322. Year instead of Ano. Line 330. Replace greater sunlight intensity by higher sunlight… line 486. “in the preset study” replace by in the present study

Line 28. Please define CP, NDF, ADF in the abstract

Line 98. Please define RCBD, the first time you use this abbreviation.

Line 112. Please define PPDF, the first time you use this abbreviation.

Lines 116-118. Could you provide some references where the same procedure was used to evaluate PPDF?

Line 209. Please correct, Maluta II

Line 302. The authors use PC concentration (lines 331, 343, etc.) many times in the manuscript. We think that instead of CP content. We advise using only CP content throughout the manuscript.

Line 365. The mean PC value in our study was 11.3%, 62.6 NDF, and 36.7% ADF. Please rephrase. The mean PC value in our study was 11.3%, 62.6 % for NDF, and 36.7% for ADF. Idem in Line 368.

Author Response

Dear Reviewer;

Thank you very much for your review to our manucript. Because of the correction, point by ponit, of your observations, we are sure that our manuscript is much better.

Please see the attachment. 

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 3 Report

The manuscript Torres-Lugo et al., "Productivity, morphology and chemical composition of Brachiaria spp. ecotypes, under two solar illumination intensities, in Yucatan, Mexico" (agronomy-1979420), demonstrated the potential use of forage plants and identified the best “ecotypes” under different light intensities. This is a relevant topic in Grassland and a Silvopastoralism and Agroforestry for Forage Production, based a new prospectively in integration crops productions.

The authors have done a large amount of work, employing various references and critical analysis based on a scientific method and structure. The introduction, M&M, the results and discussion topic is good and minor points its necessary by adjusting in English synthases. Tables and figures are good qualities. However, minor points in legends of the tables a figures is necessary adjusts.

My conception, the manuscript is suitable for publication, after few corrections. The structure is adequate, and the information is new and of great significance for comprehension.

In addition, I would just like to ask the authors a few questions, on small points that I was confused or that were not written in the manuscript.

Best regards

 Points:

#01: There is a scope for improvement in the introduction section: a) additional emphasis on the significance of the study, b) scientific contribution of the paper in integration Silvopastoralism and Agroforestry production; Maybe a one paragraphs with potential economic by ecotypes selected in your manuscript.;

#02: How this methodology can be extended for other plants: potential challenges, advantages? Do you have any competitive disadvantages (economic, competition between species, changes in phenotypic plasticity)? Added in your results and discussion topic, please.

-Conclusion: What is future perspectives to use your T1 T6 in farms?

Minor Points

Check all scientific names (italic);

Abstract: Add a sentence to introduction your work;

L23 dead?

-Alphabetic order keywords;

L322, year^-1; not Spanish;

Best regards,

Author Response

Dear Reviewer;

Thank you very much for your challenging review to our manucript. Because of the correction, point by ponit, of your observations, we are sure that our manuscript is much better. Substantil changes were made becouse of your final observations

Please see the attachment. 

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf