Effect of Reduced Tillage on Soil Enzyme Activity, Pests Pressure and Productivity of Organically Grown Spring Wheat Species

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

figure 1: include an inset showing poland in the european map, to provide a geographical context to worldwide readers. 

Potentially present all data in results tables as graphs, and provide the data tables as supplementary materials.

Author Response

We would like to thank the Reviewer for the positive opinion of our manuscript. Our answers to the Reviewer's comments are as follows:

Q1. figure 1: include an inset showing Poland in the European map, to provide a geographical context to worldwide readers. 

A1. Thank you for this suggestion. In accordance with it, we have included both the map of Poland and Europe.

Q2, Potentially present all data in results tables as graphs, and provide the data tables as supplementary materials.

A2. We agree with the Reviewer that the results presented in the graphs are more reader-friendly, however, due to the very large number of variables, it was necessary to present most of them in tables. Showing them in a graphical way would require adding as many as 27 new figures.

 

 

 

 

Reviewer 2 Report

The authors should mention the type of implements used to plow the soil. This will help those who are interested in repeating the trial.

 

Author Response

We thank the Reviewer for reviewing our manuscript. Our answer to the  comment is as follows:

Q1. The authors should mention the type of implements used to plow the soil. This will help those who are interested in repeating the trial.

A1. Thank you for this suggestion. We added information about the type of implements used for soil cultivation in the Experimental treatments section.

Reviewer 3 Report

Q1. Line 23-25: The sentence lacks of logic. Please rewrite it to make it more readable.

Q2. Line 38-40. Please add some references into the sentence.

Q3. Line 69: ‘However, they pointed out…’

Q4. Line 79-80: ‘Daruza and Gaile [19] in turn claimed that under reduced tillage it was possible to obtain a higher yield compared to plowing.’

Q5. The authors pointed out the main aim of the study was to explore the potential effects of (shallow tillage and plowing on soil enzyme activity, pests pressure, and grain yield of spring wheat. However, the mechanisms of tillage methods in favoring the development of organic farming were still unknown. The specific objectives of the study need to be clarified.

Q6. In Section 2.1, the content of soil organic matter (SOM) and total nitrogen (TN) are important parameters in inflecting the soil quality. Please supply the lost information.

Q7. In the Tables and Figures, it’s weird that letters were labeled as ‘a-c’ or ‘c-e’. What’s the difference between ‘a-c’ and ‘ac’?

Q8. All the Figures lost the title. Please add the title into the Y-axis.

Q9. The growth of plants and soil microorganisms are highly related to soil physicochemical properties, such as bulk density, pH, water content and nutrient contents. The changes of soil physicochemical properties caused by the soil management may be the primary reason in affecting the soil enzyme activities and crop production. So, the changes of soil physicochemical properties are advised to be added into the manuscript to explain relevant mechanisms.

Q10. Line 496: ‘[50]. Typically’

Q11. Authors are highly recommended to rearrangement of discussion section like results. Then it will be better to extend discussion about every measured parameter.

Q12. The Conclusions section is too long. Please concise it and provide the most important information.

Author Response

Thank you very much for  thorough review of our manuscript. All comments provided by the Reviewer allowed us to correct our manuscript, and significantly improve its editorial and scientific quality. Our answers to the  comments are as follows:

 

Q1. Line 23-25: The sentence lacks of logic. Please rewrite it to make it more readable.

A1. Thank you for this suggestion. The sentence indicated by the Reviewer has been corrected in such a way that it more precisely refers to the obtained results. At the same time, we had to take into account the word limit for Abstract.

Q2. Line 38-40. Please add some references into the sentence.

A2. The reference was added, as suggested by the Reviewer.

Q3. Line 69: ‘However, they pointed out…’

A3. We corrected this mistake.

Q4. Line 79-80: ‘Daruza and Gaile [19] in turn claimed that under reduced tillage it was possible to obtain a higher yield compared to plowing.’

Q4. We corrected this mistake.

Q5. The authors pointed out the main aim of the study was to explore the potential effects of (shallow tillage and plowing on soil enzyme activity, pests pressure, and grain yield of spring wheat. However, the mechanisms of tillage methods in favoring the development of organic farming were still unknown. The specific objectives of the study need to be clarified.

A5. As suggested by the Reviewer, the last paragraph in the Introduction chapter has been has been carefully revised to more precisely formulate the specific objectives and the research hypothesis.

Q6. In Section 2.1, the content of soil organic matter (SOM) and total nitrogen (TN) are important parameters in inflecting the soil quality. Please supply the lost information.

A6. The manuscript was supplemented with information on the content of soil organic matter in each locality. Unfortunately, we did not perform a complete analysis of the total nitrogen content before wheat sowing. However, we were able to supplement the manuscript with the content of N_min. The soil parameters added in the article (the content of soil organic matter, and the content of N_min) are a valuable supplement to the characteristics of soil quality in the experimental sites.

Q7. In the Tables and Figures, it’s weird that letters were labeled as ‘a-c’ or ‘c-e’. What’s the difference between ‘a-c’ and ‘ac’?

Q7. We would like to clarify that in our manuscript we used the simplification 'a-c' instead of 'a,b,c' or 'c-e' instead of 'c,d,e'. This method is one of the ways to mark significant differences between treatments in scientific articles.

Q8. All the Figures lost the title. Please add the title into the Y-axis.

Q8. Thank you for this comment. The titles of Y-axis were added.

Q9. The growth of plants and soil microorganisms are highly related to soil physicochemical properties, such as bulk density, pH, water content and nutrient contents. The changes of soil physicochemical properties caused by the soil management may be the primary reason in affecting the soil enzyme activities and crop production. So, the changes of soil physicochemical properties are advised to be added into the manuscript to explain relevant mechanisms.

Q9. Thank you for this comment. We agree with the Reviewer that it would be valuable to perform an extended analysis of changes of soil physicochemical properties, but due to budget and staff constraints, we were unable to perform it. We have planned such analyzes in the next research project on reduced tillage in organic farming system.

Q10. Line 496: ‘[50]. Typically’

Q10. It was corrected.

Q11. Authors are highly recommended to rearrangement of discussion section like results. Then it will be better to extend discussion about every measured parameter.

Q11. Thank you for this suggestion. The Discussion chapter has been divided into sections in the same way as the Results section.

Q12. The Conclusions section is too long. Please concise it and provide the most important information.

As suggested by the Reviewer, we carefully analyzed the content of the Conclusions chapter. In the corrected, shortened version, we have provided only the most important information.

 

Reviewer 4 Report

I failed to find any significant drawbacks of the work. Nevertheless, taking into account intensive investigations of reduced tillage application, I should recommend to add two more references  of 2022:

1)M. Krauss, M. Wiesmeier, A. Don, F. Cuperus, A. Gattinger, S. Gruber, W.K. Haagsma, J. Peigné, M. Chiodelli Palazzoli, F. Schulz, M.G.A. van der Heijden, L. Vincent-Caboud, R.A. Wittwer, S. Zikeli, M. Steffens Reduced tillage in organic farming affects soil organic carbon stocks in temperate Europe, Soil and Tillage Research, 2022,216,105262,https://doi.org/10.1016/j.still.2021.105262.

2)Y. Gelybó, Z. Barcza, M. Dencső, I. Potyó, I. Kása, Á. Horel, K. Pokovai, M. Birkás, A. Kern, R. Hollós, E. Tóth Effect of tillage and crop type on soil respiration in a long-term field experiment on chernozem soil under temperate climate,Soil and Tillage Research, 2022,216,105239, https://doi.org/10.1016/j. still.2021.105239.

Author Response

We would like to thank the Reviewer for the positive opinion of our manuscript. Our answers are as follows.

Q1. I failed to find any significant drawbacks of the work. Nevertheless, taking into account intensive investigations of reduced tillage application, I should recommend to add two more references  of 2022:

1)M. Krauss, M. Wiesmeier, A. Don, F. Cuperus, A. Gattinger, S. Gruber, W.K. Haagsma, J. Peigné, M. Chiodelli Palazzoli, F. Schulz, M.G.A. van der Heijden, L. Vincent-Caboud, R.A. Wittwer, S. Zikeli, M. Steffens. Reduced tillage in organic farming affects soil organic carbon stocks in temperate Europe, Soil and Tillage Research, 2022, 216,105262,https://doi.org/10.1016/j.still.2021.105262.

2)Y. Gelybó, Z. Barcza, M. Dencső, I. Potyó, I. Kása, Á. Horel, K. Pokovai, M. Birkás, A. Kern, R. Hollós, E. Tóth Effect of tillage and crop type on soil respiration in a long-term field experiment on chernozem soil under temperate climate. Soil and Tillage Research, 2022, 216,105239, https://doi.org/10.1016/j. still.2021.105239.

 

A1. Thank you very much for these suggestions. The latest publications in the field of reduced tillage indicated by the Reviewer have been used and supplemented in the revised manuscript.

 

Round 2

Reviewer 3 Report

None.