Effect of Hormonal Priming and Osmopriming on Germination of Winter Savory (Satureja montana L.) Natural Population under Drought Stress

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

This manuscript discusses the possibility of increasing plant tolerance to water stress by priming. The authors focused on a particular species (winter savory) and analyzed the effect of both osmopriming and hormone-based priming. Thus, the authors' goal is statedly to test whether priming at the seed germination level can have a positive effect on plant development when exposed to critical conditions. The manuscript is of interest, it deals with a very actual problem, such as water stress, and possible remedies based on pretreatments (priming). I think the work has interesting potentialities, but there are some points that should be clarified.
1.    The introduction is basically divided into several parts; first the problem of climate change is exposed, then the potentiality of priming treatments at various levels and lastly the reason for choosing the species of interest given its countless properties in various fields. What is missing in the introduction is the rationale for applying priming to the species of interest. What is the risk that the species of interest may be harmed by climate change? Is there prior evidence for this? Are there simulations of possible reduction in numbers of individuals or the species? I think some more justification is needed, especially considering that the species of interest already seems adapted to harsh environmental conditions.
2.    As for materials, the authors collected seeds from three distinct populations in three different areas, but there is no justification for the choice of the three geographic areas; why exactly those three and not others?
3.    Also in the materials and methods, it is required to specify exactly what hydropriming consists of, perhaps even defining what that treatment means.
4.    Another point that deserves attention is the transition from the first experimental phase to the second. In phase 1, the authors use hydropriming to select the most resistant variety, while phase 2 involves treatment with osmopriming and hormonal priming. It is necessary to establish the link between the two types of treatment; why select a variety based on one type of priming and then apply two other different priming?
5.    Another point to clarify is why use two separate priming in step 2. Why osmopriming and hormone-based priming? What is the advantage of studying both of these effects? What additional data can this provide? Why choose one type of hormone over others? I believe that a justification for the experimental choices made is necessary.
6.    The data are analyzed with very good statistical evaluation. The data seem very accurate and also indicative that hormone treatment may have a positive effect on water stress response. What I'm wondering about in the end is a broader conclusion; the authors started with the hypothesis of the importance of the species locally for various reasons, including economic. Now it's a question of how actually this type of pretreatment can have beneficial effects on natural populations. How to apply this type of hormone treatment? Is it something practically feasible or is it only a well conducted study but without actual practical results?

Author Response

Dear Reviewer,

First, we would like to thank you for your time and effort to improve our manuscript!

Please, our answers find attached.

Best regards,

authors

Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Reviewer 2 Report

This manuscript discussed the effect of hormonal priming and osmopriming on germination parameters of Satureja montana L. under drought stress.

 The manuscript was well designed and written, and it is scientifically sound; however, there are some major points that need to be clarified.

1. Please show the experimental design in the methods.
2. Please explain in more detail how the priming was carried out.
3. Why there are no control seeds without priming (unprimed seeds) in both experiments to test the effect of priming on seed germination. Without unprimed seeds as a control treatment, it is hard to show the effect of priming on the seed germination parameters.
4. Similar to table 7, I suggest showing the interaction effect of priming treatments and drought treatments on the germination and the germination parameters for the two experiments.
5. Lines 247 and 248, Table 5 does not show any data concerning the effect of osmopriming on the germination parameters as the authors stated.
6. Line 258: Please clarify what the authors mean by this sentence (MGT of what).
7. Lines 258-264: Where are these results found. No tables or figures represent those data.
8. Lines 265-268, Table 6 does not show any data as the authors stated.
9. The discussion is poor, the mode of action of hormonal priming and osmopriming should be discussed.
10. Line 63: as a natural food preservative…
11. Line 199: A significant difference was found…
12. Line 258: There was a statistically significant difference for…
13. Line 294: and drought treatment on natural…

Author Response

Dear Reviewer,

First, we would like to thank you for your time and effort to improve our manuscript!

Plese, find our answers attached.

Best regards,

Authors

Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Round 2

Reviewer 2 Report

All suggestions have been taken care of by the authors, and the manuscript was highly improved.

However, there are very few points that need to be corrected, as follows:

1.    Table S1 shows (8) different drought treatments, while in the text (line 98, table 1, and line 196) refer to 9 different drought treatments.

2. Line 285: osmopriming…