The Effects of Long-Term Application of Stabilized and Coated Urea on Soil Chemical Properties, Microbial Community Structure, and Functional Genes in Paddy Fields

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Dear Authors

Please revise your manuscript according to my comments in  pdf file. 

Thanks

Comments for author File: Comments.pdf

Author Response

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Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Reviewer 2 Report

It is an up-to-date study in the context of the need to reduce the amount of fertilizers with increasingly high prices and the potential for environmental pollution due to excessive fertilization. Stabilized and coated fertilizer is an alternative solution. The long duration of the study is the strong point. In the abstract, the meaning of the abbreviations must be presented, as well as the l81 DMPP introduction, the first time they are used throughout the text. In fig. 1, the units of measure must be put, as in fig. 3. Pay attention to spacing. Results on plant production would have been useful.

Is fine.

Author Response

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Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Reviewer 3 Report

Authors have performed a comprehensive analysis to check the effect of long-term fertilization on soil indices. Overall, the manuscript is very well written and the data presented is original. 

Please go through all the notes mentioned in the uploaded PDF file. I have concerns on statistical analysis performed. Please check it carefully, I believe it has to be done again. 

English language overall is fine, some grammatical errors which can be addressed. 

Formatting errors should be addressed and are mentioned in the review file. 

A justification must be added on that why only one time data is collected for such a long trial comprising 16 years? This point should be technically addressed as their could be several other sampling points. It seems that data has been gathered of used fertilizers and finally the analysis was done. 

Comments for author File: Comments.pdf

English language corrections are mentioned in the review file and should be addressed. 

Author Response

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Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Reviewer 4 Report

The current study titled "The effects of long-term application of stabilized and coated urea on soil chemical properties, microbial community structure, and functional genes in paddy" has undergone review with the following comments:

1. The abstract of the research paper is lengthy and should be shortened for better clarity.
2. The authors have used abbreviations without providing their full form, which needs to be addressed. The marked places in the attached PDF document require attention.
3. The sentence at line number 68-69 needs to be restructured.
4. At line number 153-154, the soil type should be indicated according to the USDA classification for international readers.
5. Line number 159 contains an incorrect sentence; the values need to be checked and corrected based on the information provided in the PDF.
6. At line 189, change the unit from kg hm-² to kg/ha.
7. For line 206-207, provide references and briefly discuss the protocols mentioned.
8. At line 206, include the name of the model and the company of the flow analyzer within brackets.

Furthermore, there are several other comments in the PDF that need to be addressed.

The study also poses several specific questions that need to be answered:

1. The authors calculated various diversity indexes to assess the microbial diversity in the soil. These indexes help to quantify the richness and evenness of microbial communities, providing valuable insights into the overall diversity and composition of microorganisms present.
2. Among the diversity indexes calculated, the better representative of microbial diversity can be determined based on the specific research objectives and the characteristics of the microbial community under investigation. Each diversity index captures different aspects of diversity, and the selection of the most appropriate index depends on the context and the specific research question.
3. The purpose of conducting RDA (Redundancy Analysis) in this experiment is to explore the relationships between the different treatments applied and the variations observed in the microbial community structure and functional gene composition. RDA helps to identify the key factors (treatments) that influence the microbial community and functional gene patterns in the paddy soil.
4. RDA analysis aids in identifying differences among the different treatments used in the study by visualizing the relationships between the treatments and the microbial community data in a multidimensional space. It allows researchers to determine which treatments are associated with specific microbial groups or functional genes, providing insights into how the various treatments impact the soil microbial community and functional gene composition.

Author Response

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Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Round 2

Reviewer 4 Report

The authors have addressed most of the review comments but still there are few mistakes observed in their paper.  

Line number 198, the units are still wrong. The authors fails to understand the difference between kg hm^-2 and kg ha^-1

Line number 238, the spelling of Tukey’s test is wrong. 

Authors should revise the manuscript .

The authors have addressed most of the review comments but still there are few mistakes observed in their paper.  

Line number 198, the units are still wrong. The authors fails to understand the difference between kg hm^-2 and kg ha^-1

Line number 238, the spelling of Tukey’s test is wrong. 

Authors should revise the manuscript .

Author Response

Please see the attachment.

Author Response File: Author Response.docx