A Comparison of Water Imbibition and Controlled Deterioration in Five Orthodox Species
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
This study evaluated and compared seed deterioration in five orthodox species using electrolyte leakage and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). The study also compared water imbibition by the test orthodox seeds. A lot of scientific work deals with seed germination, in terms of novelty it positively evaluates the results achieved with FTIR. My comments relate mainly to the methodology, as it does not follow that the seeds were ever harvested, i. in which year, under what conditions and what was the average weight of seeds used in the experiment. How many times was the whole experiment repeated?
Author Response
Thank you for reviewing our manuscripts. We believe that your comments have added some value to our m/s
The focus of the study was to show that some biochemical changes occurred during the aging time. Such changes are not determined by the weight of the seeds, hence we did not bother to include them
Author Response File: 
Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 2 Report
Acceptable in present form.
Author Response
Thank you very much
Reviewer 3 Report
The manuscript describes the germinative behavior of 5 species and correlates the physiological aspects with the duration of the imbibition phases. Additionally, it describes the aging of the seeds and its relationship with electrolyte leakage processes and the FTIR spectrum. The results obtained in this work are an excellent contribution to understanding the morphophysiological mechanisms associated with the speed of the imbibition phases of the seeds and their application in the long-term conservation of germplasm.
One of the limitations of the work is the ambiguity of the interpretation of the infrared spectra, since a list of possible functional groups present is made, but they are not associated with the aging process of the seeds. The authors remark the peroxidation of fatty acids as one of the main deterioration processes of the seeds, however they do not make a specific reference to these compounds as a result of the interpretation of the infrared spectrum.
I suggest that a further review of the signal assignments be made, and that emphasis be placed on those that are related to changes in unsaturated fatty acids.
Additionally, I suggest that the following corrections be made.
Page 2, Line 81, the reference (Fatokun et al., 2020) is not in the bibliography.
Page 3, Line 112, change Powel to Powell.
Page 4, line 172, change Burker to Bruker
Page 4, line 173, change 4000 to 400
Page 4. Line 174, I suggest describing the accessory used to acquire the spectrum, I assume it was a diffuse reflectance accessory (DIR), but the spectra have the sharpness of a fully attenuated reflactance accessory (ATR).
Page 5, Line 198, the reference Manz et al 2005 is not in the bibliography.
Page 5, Line 199, the reference Mei and Song, 2008 is not in the bibliography.
Page 5, Line 199, the reference Gimenez et al., 2014 is not in the bibliography.
Page 9, Lines 303-304, the reference Powell and Matthews (1980) is not in the bibliography.
Page 9, Lines 309, the reference Maia et al., 2014 is not in the bibliography.
Page 9, Lines 309, the reference Rodrigues-Junior et al., 2015 is not in the bibliography.
Page 9, Lines 312, the reference Rodrigues-Junior et al., 2015 is not in the bibliography.
Page 9, Lines 317, the reference Ratajczak et al., 2015 is not in the bibliography.
Page 9, Lines 318, the reference Ratajczak et al., 2015 is not in the bibliography.
Page 9, Line 316, correct the format of peroxidation and fatty acids
Page 120, Line 347, correct the format of peroxidation
Page 13, Line 394, the pattern of the spectra cannot be distinguished, I suggest indicating the color of each spectrum for each day of controlled deterioration
Page 13, Line 393, Figure 5, It is noteworthy that the signs of humidity in the samples do not increase, which would be expected considering that they were in conditions of controlled deterioration at 100% relative humidity.
Page 15, lines 410-411, Table 1, I suggest that the Cu pepo results be presented first, to be consistent with the order of the spectra in Figure 5.
Page 15, lines 410-411, Table 1, The assignment of the unsaturated acid at 1734 is in doubt, since the alkene signal at 3100 is not confirmed.
Page 15, lines 410-411, Table 1, the assignment of the signal at 4300 as alkynes is uncertain, since it is more likely to be linked to stretching of a carboxylic acid. This would be consistent with the strong carbonyl signal at 1734, which is borderline a carboxylic acid. In addition, alkynes are very rare in biological systems.
Author Response
Thank you for the review. Your comments have no doubt improved the quality of our m/s.
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
