Border Effect on Ratoon Crop Yield in a Mechanized Rice Ratooning System

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

This article  presents a study concerning the border effect on ratoon crop yield in a mechanized rice ratooning system. In the study, the authors compared two harvest methods. i.e. mechanical harvesting: (MEH) and manual harvesting: (MAH) of the main crop for  identifying whether there is a border effect on the yield of the NRZ, and for evaluating whether the border effect will compensate for the yield loss of the ratoon crop.

Overall, the article has successfully presented good findings of the study, through a beautiful writing by the authors.  However, before proceeding with the further process, the article needs improvement. My comments, criticisms and suggestions are as follows:

1. Further clarification is needed to tell the readers on the reasons why the authors  select the split-plot design in the experimental design. It seems that the experiment did analyses on  a comparison of two treatments i.e. harvesting methods (MEH) and (MAH).  Thus, I believed that the Completely Randomized Design experimental analysis might more appropriate for the study.

2.  It is necessary to reveal the technical information of each method used in the study. The authors compare Mechanical Harvesting and Manual Harvesting methods, but it is unclear about the specifications or technical information of harvesting machine/tool/equipment  used in the experiment. I think the readers need to be informed on this matter.

3. I suggest the authors to provide a table showing the detailed climate parameters during the study. The climate parameters should be presented in details since it indicates the climate situations on when the study was carried out. All these things are important supporting information for this study.

4. The current conclusions is not solid enough to wrap-up the findings/the results of the study. I believed that the current conclusions seemed  too short to brief the findings of the study. Therefore, I suggest the authors to re-write the conclusions.

Author Response

Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Reviewer 2 Report

Review of the manuscript «Border effect on ratoon crop yield in a mechanized rice ratooning system»

The manuscript submitted for review is devoted to the issues of improving the agrotechnics of rice cultivation using mechanized harvesting. The conclusions are of some scientific and practical interest. However, some points require clarification.

My comments:

1. In the section "Materials and Methods" it is necessary to add a morphological description of cultivars (Fengliangyouxiang 1: FLYX1, Quanliangyou 2118: QLY2118) and genetic origin (if known).
2. To what extent the biological (morphological) features of the cultivars allow the most efficient use of combine harvesting. This will once again emphasize the theoretical (scientific) significance of your research.
3. What model of the equipment was used by the authors in the experiment with mechanized harvesting?
4. It would be better to give a Table comparing the percentage of crop loss during mechanized and manual harvesting separately by research years (2019 and 2020).
5. How does mechanized harvesting affect the marketable qualities of grain?
6. Statistical data analysis is not well covered in the "Results" and "Discussions" sections. A more detailed description of the text is required.

Author Response

January 18, 2022

Dear Reviewer:

We have revised the manuscript (agronomy-1566970) according to your comments. Please see the revised manuscript and point-by-point responses to the comments. We thank you for the useful suggestions and comments on the manuscript.

I hope you will be satisfied with the revision. If there are any other questions regarding the revised manuscript, please let me know.

Sincerely yours,

Wenge Wu

Professor

Rice Research Institute

Anhui Academy of Agricultural Sciences

Hefei, Anhui 230031

P.R. China

Tel: +86-0551-62160196

E-mail: [email protected]

Author Response File: Author Response.docx