Short-Term Elevated CO2 or O3 Reduces Undamaged Rice Kernels, but Together They Have No Effect
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
Comments and Suggestions for AuthorsThis is a useful study for the economics of rice cultivation and the quality of rice grains. The results show the complexity that environmental effects have on our modern cultivars and the potential vulnerability of our food system. It is well written, has good structure and is fully referenced.
Specific points:
I would like to know what the sources of elevated ozone are in the rice cultivating areas of China (industry, transport? etc.). Are these high O3 episodes/areas easy to avoid or mitigate?
I think a graphic of pictures of the different damaged and undamaged kernels would assist the reader to understand what the analyses consisted of and, as described in the discussion, a reference to the economic importance of the damaged kernels would be useful in the introduction, to show the importance of the work upfront. Refs 16 and 35 don’t really help to show what the kernels are.
Fig 1b. ‘r’ or ‘r2’ ?
Lines 194-197 – not sure this paragraph adds anything or what point that is being made here?
Lines 223-225 – not sure how these gases would be regulated. I don’t imagine anyone would want to deliberately increase either CO2 or O3, even for mitigation of the crop. It would be expensive. Is there another way to regulate these in the field?
Comments on temperature sensitivity could be expanded to say by how much the temperature needs to rise to produce negative effects. Was a rise in temperature in this study measured? If not it is speculative to say this may have caused a shift in kernel types here, but it does constitute a further exacerbating environmental factor, as shown in the literature.
Author Response
Please see the attachment.
Reviewer 2 Report
Comments and Suggestions for Authors- I think this manuscript is an interesting study. However, there are grammatical mistakes in the manuscript. I suggest reviewing English to improve the manuscript. In addition, the references must be updated throughout the manuscript.
-Authors need to include weather data during all season (no just a mean) inside and outside of chambers (temperature, humidity, and PAR data). These data are key in their study.
-Please include a picture of OTC.
- What is the differences between NJ5055 and WYJ3 cultivars?
-Authors need to include CO2 and O3 levels (inside and outside OTC) in their study.
I think key information is lack in the study to support the results and conclusions.
Author Response
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Author Response File: 
Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 3 Report
Comments and Suggestions for AuthorsAccording to the MS by Long et al., increased CO2 or O3 can reduce undamaged rice yield in the short term, but the two effects are not additive. The experiment has been carefully conducted, and mechanistic discussion supports the results. I recommend acceptance of the findings after a relatively minor revision, as follows:
1. Why did the authors select an elevated CO2 dose of 200 ppm? This needs to be explained in the text.
2. The experimental design needs to be explained in the M&M section.
3. The figures need to be corrected. The small font size made it difficult to understand the figures. I urge the authors to resize the font in all the figures.
Author Response
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Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 4 Report
Comments and Suggestions for AuthorsResearch "Short-term elevated CO2 or O3 reduces undamaged rice kernels, but together they have no effect", the subject of this experiment is interesting, however, there are many minor issues. Overall, I hope the authors will resolve these issues in the manuscript, improve the quality, and make it suitable for publication in Agronomy.
· On page 3 in the "Materials and Methods" section, please clearly explain what kind of software you used to analyze the data.
· In the Materials and Methods section, please explain what your reasons or sources were for choosing the concentrations of carbon dioxide (ppb 200) and ozone (ppb 40) for this study.
· Please write the words in the "Keywords" section in one format, "write the first letter of all words in capital or lower case."
· On page 3, line 100; please edit the sentence
· Edit the footnote of "Table 2" → *(p < 0.05)
· It is suggested not to start the sentence with the word "And". Please delete "And" at the beginning of these sentences, or replace it with another suitable word.
o On page 1, line 17
o On page 2, line 67 and 76
o On page 5, line 174 and 181
o On page 8, line 274 and 281
· The manuscript has minor grammatical faults. Proofread the MS for English improvement. Please replace these comments on the text:
o On page 1, line 37 → "elevated O3 reduces "
o On page 1, line 42 → " achieved by increasing the number of grains or increasing"
o On page 2, line 50 and 52 → " elevated O3 inhibits"
o On page 3, line 108 → "the sample was collected."
o On page 3, line 116 → " the differences among"
o On page 3, line 119 → " checked by the t-test"
o On page 7, line 197 → " rice that was hulled"
- On page 7, line 203 and 232 → " Our results shows"
o On page 7, line 236 → "eO3 damages the cell"
- On page 8, line 251 → " investigation of which could provide information on the happens"
o On page 8, line 261 and 262 → "plant is exposed" and "include resource portioning"
Comments on the Quality of English Language· The manuscript has minor grammatical faults. Proofread the MS for English improvement. Please replace these comments on the text:
o On page 1, line 37 → "elevated O3 reduces "
o On page 1, line 42 → " achieved by increasing the number of grains or increasing"
o On page 2, line 50 and 52 → " elevated O3 inhibits"
o On page 3, line 108 → "the sample was collected."
o On page 3, line 116 → " the differences among"
o On page 3, line 119 → " checked by the t-test"
o On page 7, line 197 → " rice that was hulled"
- On page 7, line 203 and 232 → " Our results shows"
o On page 7, line 236 → "eO3 damages the cell"
- On page 8, line 251 → " investigation of which could provide information on the happens"
o On page 8, line 261 and 262 → "plant is exposed" and "include resource portioning"
Author Response
Please see the attachment.
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
Round 2
Reviewer 2 Report
Comments and Suggestions for AuthorsAuthors improved some aspect of the current version. However,, authors did not include the weather data and CO2 and O3 data by day inside and outside OTC. Authors should include a figures with these data by day ( no just a mean).
Author Response
Please see the attachment.
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
