Exploitation of a Grafting Technique for Improving the Water Use Efficiency of Eggplant (Solanum melongena L.) Grown in a Cold Greenhouse in Mediterranean Climatic Conditions

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

General Evaluation:

The current manuscript entitled “Exploitation of Grafting Technique for Improving Water Use Efficiency of Eggplant (Solanum melongena L.) Grown in Cold Greenhouse in the Mediterranean Climatic Conditions” by Argento et al. performed a comparative analysis of various rootstock-scion combinations of eggplant, grown under three different irrigation regimes. In general, the study is well-designed and the findings reported by the authors are of practical importance. However, I have observed a few grey points in the manuscript that need to be addressed before it is finally considered for publication in the Agronomy MDPI journal. My specific comments are given below:

1.      Line 15-16: It says the same thing as in lines 13-14. Please remove it.

2.      Line 14: mention the scientific name of eggplant here with botanical authority and variety/cultivar name.

3.      Line 18: write Solanum torvum as S. torvum.

4.      Please avoid an extensive description of the methodology, instead provide major numerical results in the abstract and reduce the length to not more than 250 words.

5.      Avoid abbreviations in keywords (E.g. WUE).

6.      Line 50: Solanaceae and Cucurbitaceae? Mention that they are plant families.

7.      Line 100: Please mention the coordinates and agro-climatic conditions of the study site. The methods section requires a more detailed explanation of the grafting techniques used and the experimental design, including the specific environmental conditions in the greenhouse.

8.      Table 4 and others: Please check line numbering overlaps the table body.

9.      The results section should provide a more in-depth interpretation of the findings. What do the results imply in the context of improving water use efficiency in eggplant cultivation?

10.   Table 12: Should include eigenvalues and variances for PCs within the table.

11.    Discuss any challenges or limitations encountered during the study, such as potential confounding factors, and how they were addressed.

12.   Can the findings be applied to eggplant cultivation in other Mediterranean climates or under different conditions?

Author Response

Dear Editor of Agronomy and respected Reviewer,

We express our gratitude for your insightful questions and valuable suggestions regarding our manuscript entitled "Exploitation of Grafting Technique for Improving Water Use Efficiency of Eggplant (Solanum melongena L.) Grown in Cold Greenhouse in the Mediterranean Climatic Conditions" authored by Argento et al.

We have meticulously addressed each point raised in the review, and the revised version of the manuscript has been successfully submitted through the MDPI website. We hope that the esteemed editorial board recognizes the significance of our work and finds merit in its contributions. We are fully committed to collaborating further to enhance the paper in alignment with the suggestions provided by the Reviewers.

Warm Regards,

Simone Treccarichi.

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 2 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

The manuscript Exploitation of Grafting Technique for Improving Water Use Efficiency of Eggplant (Solanum melongena L.) Grown in Cold Greenhouse in the Mediterranean Climatic Conditions by Sergio Argento, Simone Treccarichi, Donata Arena, Giulio Flavio Rizzo and Ferdinando Branca provides useful comparative studies of eggplant rootstocks in order to effectively provide moisture to scions with insufficient watering.

This study presents various options for analysis and establishment of correlations, which is certainly interesting.

Unfortunately, although the manuscript is formatted according to the rules, there are some irregularities in the presentation of the material.

So the scientific problem, or at least the hypothesis that is being tested, was not formulated as is customary in the last paragraph of the introduction. instead there is a description and it is not clear.

A technical assessment should accompany the report, but adequate support should be offered on the scientific side. And it exists. These are physiological features and structural organization of blood vessels, and features of the structure of the root system are also important. These two factors were not analyzed and this is a significant drawback. Photos of plants, their roots and stem sections can provide explanations, not just mechanistic data.

It is well known that depending on the genotype and ploidy in plants of the same species, the number of vascular bundles and their location can differ significantly. it is so obvious that if the rootstock and scion have an unequal number of tufts, then their fusion occurs with disturbances and they are different for different combinations.

The type of root system is no less important. Thus, natural forms with long roots that feed the plant from the depths can become more resistant to drought under certain conditions. On the other hand, a fibrous root system can make it possible to adapt well to the presence of root hairs, subject to high air humidity and a transition at the dew point under specific conditions.

The physiological aspect, as well as the structure of the organization, is not given and apparently was not analyzed by the authors.

I think this can be compensated for by photographs and or by providing other information about the genotypes.

It is extremely important to discuss this.

Please put 4-7, 12 in order - they are impossible to understand, the lines have slipped.

Also use the accepted color system for presenting correlation tables, since it is not possible to make out small print and even smaller stars.

Conclusions should contain general information that allows other researchers to use the results of this extensive work.

These corrections will allow the article to be accepted after a major revision.

Author Response

Dear Editor of Agronomy and respected Reviewer,

We express our gratitude for your insightful questions and valuable suggestions regarding our manuscript entitled "Exploitation of Grafting Technique for Improving Water Use Efficiency of Eggplant (Solanum melongena L.) Grown in Cold Greenhouse in the Mediterranean Climatic Conditions" authored by Argento et al.

We have meticulously addressed each point raised in the review, and the revised version of the manuscript has been successfully submitted through the MDPI website. We hope that the esteemed editorial board recognizes the significance of our work and finds merit in its contributions. We are fully committed to collaborating further to enhance the paper in alignment with the suggestions provided by the Reviewers.

Warm Regards,

Simone Treccarichi.

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 3 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

This study confirmed a significant affinity between S. torvum as the rootstock and the eggplant variety Black Bell as the scion. The use of grafting techniques and appropriate water management improved water use efficiency in eggplant production. This provides valuable insights for enhancing water use efficiency in eggplant production in arid regions. The manuscript is recommended for publication with minor revisions.

1. Water consumption is related to soil water evaporation and plant transpiration. It is suggested to supplement data on soil water evaporation and leaf transpiration and analyze them to validate the water-saving efficiency of deficit irrigation combined with To/Be.

2. It is recommended to include a significance test for the differences in data from different treatments in Tables 3-9.

3. The data "a" in F12 for IR50 and F13 To/Be in IR50 need to be removed.

4. In line 287, "70.54" should be corrected to "79.54". In line 315, "IR100" should be corrected to "IR50". In line 335, "17.09 cm for IR50 to 18.67 cm for IR100" should be corrected to "17.14 cm for IR200 to 18.67 cm for IR50". These errors need to be corrected.

Comments on the Quality of English Language

 

This study confirmed a significant affinity between S. torvum as the rootstock and the eggplant variety Black Bell as the scion. The use of grafting techniques and appropriate water management improved water use efficiency in eggplant production. This provides valuable insights for enhancing water use efficiency in eggplant production in arid regions. The manuscript is recommended for publication with minor revisions.

1. Water consumption is related to soil water evaporation and plant transpiration. It is suggested to supplement data on soil water evaporation and leaf transpiration and analyze them to validate the water-saving efficiency of deficit irrigation combined with To/Be.

2. It is recommended to include a significance test for the differences in data from different treatments in Tables 3-9.

3. The data "a" in F12 for IR50 and F13 To/Be in IR50 need to be removed.

4. In line 287, "70.54" should be corrected to "79.54". In line 315, "IR100" should be corrected to "IR50". In line 335, "17.09 cm for IR50 to 18.67 cm for IR100" should be corrected to "17.14 cm for IR200 to 18.67 cm for IR50". These errors need to be corrected.

Author Response

Dear Editor of Agronomy and respected Reviewer,

We express our gratitude for your insightful questions and valuable suggestions regarding our manuscript entitled "Exploitation of Grafting Technique for Improving Water Use Efficiency of Eggplant (Solanum melongena L.) Grown in Cold Greenhouse in the Mediterranean Climatic Conditions" authored by Argento et al.

We have meticulously addressed each point raised in the review, and the revised version of the manuscript has been successfully submitted through the MDPI website. We hope that the esteemed editorial board recognizes the significance of our work and finds merit in its contributions. We are fully committed to collaborating further to enhance the paper in alignment with the suggestions provided by the Reviewers.

Warm Regards,

Simone Treccarichi.

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Round 2

Reviewer 2 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

The authors made corrections to their article - added Figure 1, corrected the abstract and scientific hypothesis

However, there are still a number of shortcomings that need to be corrected

- In the scientific hypothesis, the authors indicate that they conducted qualitative analysis of fruits (line 89), where is this analysis reflected in the article?

In the methodological part in paragraph 2.1 indicate to the different eggplant rootstock-scion combination  This information appears only in Fig. 1

Specify what leaf chromatic parameters (LL*, La* and Lb*) mean and how they differ from each other ( lines 126-127). Similar question for Fruit chromatic parameter (FUL*, FUa* and FUb*) (lines 151-152)?

The authors have carried out a very extensive statistical processing of experimental data, but I would like the authors to explain why they calculated average values for three irrigation regimes (IR100, IR50, IR200) "Means per genotype" - tables 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and... And further they checked the reliability of the difference between the obtained results. After all, the main objective of the scientific hypothesis of the article - "a primary objective of this study was to assess how the plant growth and development are influenced by altering the water volume, specifically by using either half or double the normal irrigation amount". (lines 82-84)

And lastly, format your article. Remove the numbering of rows in Tables 4, 5, , 7 and 12. Remove chapter 6, Supplementary Materials, Data Availability Statement,  Acknowledgments, Appendix A, Appendix B.

Author Response

Dear Editor of Agronomy and respected Reviewer,

We express our gratitude for your insightful questions and valuable suggestions regarding our manuscript entitled "Exploitation of Grafting Technique for Improving Water Use Efficiency of Eggplant (Solanum melongena L.) Grown in Cold Greenhouse in the Mediterranean Climatic Conditions" authored by Argento et al.

We have meticulously addressed each point raised in the review, and the revised version of the manuscript has been successfully submitted through the MDPI website. We hope that the esteemed editorial board recognizes the significance of our work and finds merit in its contributions. We are fully committed to collaborating further to enhance the paper in alignment with the suggestions provided by the Reviewers.

Warm Regards,

Simone Treccarichi.

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf