Influence of Rice Husk Biochar on Soil Nematode Community under Upland and Flooded Conditions: A Microcosm Experiment

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

I have gone through the manuscript entitled “Influence of Rice Husk Biochar on Soil Nematode Community under Upland and Flooded conditions: A Microcosm Experiment”

 

The role of nematode in the soil ecosystem in recent years have been more and more researched to look for their positive role. The present manuscript is well written (however, English needs a bit more smoothen as there are lots of grammatical mistakes).

 

My main observation on the manuscript is as follows;

 

1. On what fundamentals you opted the Biochar application rates (0,5,20 and 40 Mg ha ^-1) and sampling times (0, 2,3 and 4 weeks).
2. As Biochar is a source of organic fertilizer which behaves as a source of enrichment I suggest you calculate the Enrichment index and Channel index as these indices are very sensitive to the source of enrichment.
3. Line 16: I suggest using the Maturity index in place of the Biological index acknowledging the work of Bongers (1990), who specifically used the term Maturity index.
4. Line 25: delete “were kept” replace it with “remained”
5. Line 47: delete “in” and replace it with “that of “….. bacterivorous nematodes
6. There are grammatical errors throughout the MS make the necessary edits
7. Line 139: I wonder how tissue paper will remain suspended in the funnel. Explain Baermann’s funnel technique properly.
8. Figure 4 shows the response of nematode genera corresponding only to upland condition while in results from lines 231-232 you have mentioned flooded condition as well. Look at it carefully.
9. Line 194: It looks like you have not checked the manuscript carefully before submitting “ you need to mention…..” delete it
10. Add the results of microbial respiration as you have already mentioned in material and methods
11. Line 249: the text does not correspond the Table 1 about omnivores.
12. Line 254: the text does not correspond to Supplementary Table 2 about cp5 nematodes.
13. Line 270: The result does not correspond to figure 5A at 3 weeks instead it corresponds to it at 4 weeks. Correct it.
14. Try to make Fig 6 more clear, use abbreviated forms of soil properties, and avoid jumbling of nematode genera.

Author Response

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Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Reviewer 2 Report

Dear authors,

Please double-check the format of the article and make changes as requested by Agronomy!

Here are comments, please try to answer them: 1) Why should you choose the effect of biochar on nematode communities in the soil in this article, and why not choose other factors, such as, nitrogenous fertilizer? 2) What is the difference between wood tree biochar, rice husk biochar and peanut shell biochar? 3) How has the research in this paper improved on the conclusions of previous study? 4) Can the conclusions of this article be applied to actual agricultural cultivation, and why not choose farmland as the background of the study? 5) Please double-check lines 131, 194, 195, 388 and 404, in line 194 and 195, please add the result of "respiration"; 6) please add illustrations to explain the experimental design in materials and methods.

 

Author Response

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Author Response File: Author Response.docx