Sustainable Intensification of Cassava Production towards Food Security in the Lomami Province (DR Congo): Role of Planting Method and Landrace

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

 

The manuscript by Tabaglio et al. describe the role of planting method and landrace on the cassava yield components in Democratic Republic of Congo. Three planting methods and five cultivars were used, and the results showed that Mound and Ridge seedbed preparations have significantly increased the tuber yield compared with Flat method. Moreover, Ngoymuamba is the optimum cultivar which has the higher tuber yield when compared with other cultivars. Then they concluded that the planting method and landrace may have great contribution for yield improvement in DRC. The results are not interesting as the better performance on the tube yield by the Mound and Ridge methods have been documented by previous study (Fasinmirin and Reichert, 2011). I have some suggestions to improve this manuscript.

Comments

1.     The data of tube yield components are collected only 1 year, it is not reasonable for scientific research, the authors need have 2 or 3 years data for the field observation.

2.     The authors only used local landrace, but we do not know whether these varieties have genetic association? Moreover, the authors showed that there was no significant difference on the chemical composition of roots and leaves, I am very confused why they measured these chemical compositions of leaves? Are these cassava varieties show different green or pink petiole that local people prefer to use?

 

Author Response

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Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Reviewer 2 Report

This research focused on the impacts of different seedbed preparation and local landraces on final tuber and stem number, leaf and stem biomass, as well as root and peeling yield. The manuscript was well written and clearly stated. The result is interesting, but not sure for the novelty of these plantation preparation. On the other hand, the study had limited information because the data was collected for only one grown site for one year and only five landraces were included. It also showed that the Mound and Ridge plant method do not have signification influence on tuber yield, such as Kakuanga and Ndunda. Therefore, the different plant method may have no usage for some landraces, right?

 

Other comments:

1)       I suggest to add images for tubers from three plant method and the five landraces, which could provide direct information for the tuber yield increasing and plant features.

2)       The standard deviation for all data presented in Tables (Table 1 to Table 6) could be added to show the replication variations.

Author Response

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Reviewer 3 Report

1. The objective needs to be clearly stated in the abstract.
it is not enough to say the aim of the study was to unravel the best-performing combination.

The background information needs to be improved to indicate the problem that exists with land preparation in cassava cultivation

The referencing style needs to be improved. some of the references have been abbreviated whilst others have been written in full. the journal names should either be written in full or abbreviated for all the listed references.

Author Response

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Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Round 2

Reviewer 1 Report

I have no comments on this manuscript.