Morphoagronomic Evaluation of Yellow Pitahaya (Selenicereus megalanthus Haw.) in Miraflores, Colombia

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

The work is interesting, it is correctly written, it is clear and concise. 

   Commentary of Type of manuscript: Article

Title: Morphoagronomic evaluation of yellow pitahaya (Selenicereus
megalanthus Haw.) in Miraflores, Colombia

The manuscript was carried out in varieties of yellow S. pitahaya that are cultivated in a region of Colombia. The work is correctly written. In the work, the morphoagronomic characterization was analyzed using a completely randomized design with qualitative and quantitative descriptors for fruits and cladodes taken in situ and analyzed with frequency, descriptive, multivariate, cluster and sperm correlation analyses. In the work, a census was carried out as the pitaya is cultivated and it is concluded that the crops are given by what is observed by the growers. The quality of the fruits was analyzed and it was shown that the open field systems are the ones that obtained the best quality of fruits. In addition, they highlight which are the best genotypes for the cultivation of yellow Pitaya in Colombia. The bibliography used for the discussion is updated. It is a very complete and relevant work for the use of pitaya as a crop not only in Colombia but in other countries, one of the uses of cacti stands out.

Author Response

Dear Collegue,

On behalf of all the authors, I appreciate all the observations made about the research, which seeks to learn more about and explore the varieties of yellow pitahaya that are grown in the region of Colombia, for which the statistical analyzes corresponding to the nature of this species were used. type of job. This allowed us to obtain reliable conclusions and properly select individuals within the analyzed germplasm. It is a pioneering work that lays the foundations for future genetic improvement programs for the species.

Reviewer 2 Report

The paper is very good. I agree with the post-as-is. I didn't detect errors.

I really think that the article was very well done, with very complex statistical analysis, exploring the data in every way possible.

It is associated with the reality of the producer, taking into account all aspects of cultivation, including the use or not of protected cultivation and the different types of management adopted by each producer, which in turn, influences in a very peculiar way physicochemical characteristics of the fruits, productivity, and profitability.

With this study, it was even possible to select superior materials. This is really important for this species, since the yellow pitaya is often considered of little importance by many producers because it is not very productive, produces very small fruits, is extremely sensitive to nematodes and other diseases, and still has thorns on the fruits. In several countries, including Brazil, it is ignored, due to the very difficult cultivation in relation to other pitaya species.

I had a doubt in the first sentence of the abstract, in which the authors mention that this species is exotic. I was really in doubt because I thought she was a native of Colombia. We even called it the "Colombian Pitaya" in my country. I looked for this information in the literature and it says that this fruit is native to the north of Amaria do Sul and I imagine that Colombia must be included in this center of origin. This would be my only question if the species is native or exotic.

I found the article very rich in important information and in my opinion, it is suitable for publication.

Yours sincerely.

Author Response

Thank you very much for such important observations made to the manuscript and in general terms to all the research. Regarding the question if the yellow pitahaya is native or exotic in Colombia, it has indeed been reported in the literature that it is a genetic resource native to Colombia (Caetano et al., 2011). However, the meaning in which the word "exotic" was included in the abstract is in the meaning of its appearance that is highly attractive to consumers due to its color, shape, size in relation to other cacti that are sold in the market. . To avoid confusion for readers, the change was made in line 15 of the abstract so that it is clear that the germplasm is native.It is necessary to take into account that it is native to Colombia, however, at an international level it is considered an exotic fruit tree.

Thank you very much for all your appreciation.

Reviewer 3 Report

 

without adding comments

Author Response

Dear Collegue,

Thank you very much for the evaluation of the manuscript. We appreciate your time and consider all valuable input to improve the manuscript.

Author Response File: Author Response.doc