Interaction of ZnO Nanoparticles with Metribuzin in a Soil–Plant System: Ecotoxicological Effects and Changes in the Distribution Pattern of Zn and Metribuzin

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Journal: Agronomy (ISSN 2073-4395)

Manuscript ID: agronomy-2500456

Type: Article

Manuscript title: Interaction of ZnO nanoparticles with metribuzin in a soil-plant system. Ecotoxicological effects and changes in the distribution pattern of Zn and metribuzin

Recommendation: Minor Revision

The present article deals with the interaction of ZnO nanoparticles with metribuzin pesticide in the soil and plants. This study is very interesting and attractive for the readers. In current study, Zn availability, accumulation, and translocation in plant tissues were all significantly affected by metribuzin. ZnO NPs significantly impacted metribuzin accumulation/metabolization in beans and substantially influenced metribuzin decomposition in soil. In materials and methods, you should explain the methodology of AAS and mention the name and company of AAS. There is an excellent presentation in terms of figures. The results and discussion sections are satisfactory. The conclusion is quite lengthy; it can be reduced without loss of scientific sound. This manuscript can be accepted after minor revision.

I have some more minor comments: 

Ø  The conclusion is lengthy; try to be short and complete in one paragraph.

Ø  Add some more new references related to the work.

Ø  The overall manuscript is good.

Ø  Improve the English language.

Ø  A deep review of grammar, punctuation, and spelling is needed across the manuscript.

Author Response

Dear Reviewer:

I truly appreciate your comments on the manuscript entitled: Interaction of ZnO nanoparticles with metribuzin in a soil-plant system. Ecotoxicological effects and changes in the distribution pattern of Zn and metribuzin. They have contributed significantly to the improvement of the manuscript. 

Reviewer 1

Ø  The conclusion is lengthy; try to be short and complete in one paragraph.

The conclusion has been modified according to reviewer´s suggestions.

Ø  Add some more new references related to the work.

Some new references have been added. in the introduction and throughout the text

Ø  Improve the English language.

Ø  A deep review of grammar, punctuation, and spelling is needed across the manuscript.

Before submission, the manuscript was edited by a bilingual researcher. Subsequently, the text has been corrected again to improve English grammar. 

In materials and methods, you should explain the methodology of AAS and mention the name and company of AAS.

A new paragraph has been introduced in the manuscript explaining this issue. Lines 202-209

Kind regard,

Reviewer 2 Report

Dear authors, The authors made good efforts to investigate the interaction of ZnO nanoparticles with metribuzin in a soil-plant system. Ecotoxicological effects and changes in the distribution pattern of Zn and metribuzin. The topic is interesting, and a study like this for sure will be highly appreciated by researchers active in this field. However, issues need to be addressed before the manuscript reevaluated. Specific comments, but not limited to these below, are given as the following:

Title

-Zinc oxide nanoparticles should be abbreviated as (ZnONPs). Please check in the title and abstract.

Abstract -It is recommended to use "toxicity" for soil while "phytotoxicity" for plant.

- line 27 the effects of NPs? Dose it mean the ZnONPs?

Introduction section

-The literature should include how this study should add some improvement to the common knowledge. Also the literature has some lack in refering to the recent studies on this field such as "Zinc oxide nanoparticles: potential effects on soil properties, crop production, food processing, and food quality". DOI: 10.1007/s11356-021-14542.

- The study should have a mechanistic hypothesis before the targets of the study. The readers feel they jump to the aims suddenly. So, readers should read a hypothesis then, go to the objectives of the study.

Material and methods section

-2.1 soil and chemicals. This is not clear. Do you mean soil properties? chemicals? You need to specify.

-Experimental location should be provided with a specific coordination. Where is exactly it in Madrid of Spain?

-Author should mention that standard metribuzin purchased from a company..but for preparation, author should cite a relevant reference. If not so, author should thank Dr. Ehrenstorfer (Augsburg, Germany) in the acknowledgement.

2.2- experimental design. Author did not mention any design, rather than experiment treatments. Did you use a completely randomized block design? What are the dimensions of the pot used?how irrigation was implemented.

-Line 189- Is ROS stand for reactive oxygen species? Line 200, fresh soil?

-Lines 192-193 should be in statistical analysis section?

Results,

-3.1. Please check this sub-heading Line 244 pHw stands for what?

-This section has a lot of abbreviations. Authors should polish the whole section and explain abbreviations when first used.

-Figure 3 is not easy to read. Please improve the presentation of this figure. --Line 371- Do you mean photosynthetic indicators and pigments?

-Table 1 author should check the first column. All terminology used is not correct. Plant growth can't be assessed through wet weight. Soil concentration? Root concentration? Stem concentration? Leaf concentration? The paper has a lot of such strange terminologies.

-Pearson analysis means correlation analysis?

The discussion section has some statements that seem speculative. Please check this section and delete discussion that is not supported by data.

Conclusion section is too long and has unnecessary words. Authors should condense this section and write direct conclusions based on the archived results.

Kind regard,

Moderate English language corrections should be done. 

Author Response

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Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 3 Report

Comments for author File: Comments.pdf

Author Response

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Author Response File: Author Response.pdf