Tobacco/Salvia miltiorrhiza Intercropping Improves Soil Quality and Increases Total Production Value

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

The paper is very interesting and important to readers. In manuscript are my comments.

Comments for author File: Comments.pdf

Author Response

Reviewer 1

We are very sorry for our negligence of the Salvia miltiorrhiza italics problem, we have thoroughly checked and made changes.The title and unit of the coordinate axis have been modified, and the soil has been supplemented to be dry soil. We have recalculated the data and made the charts according to the Reviewer’s suggestion. The terminology and conditions of the experimental part have been supplemented, and the relevant terminology of the transplanting period, rosette period, vigorous growth period, squaring period and mature period have been changed.We feel great thanks for your professional review work on our article.

Reviewer 2 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

Intercropping is used in many countries. It has many advantages and is one of the elements of sustainable agriculture, as it allows for more efficient use of environmental resources. The effectiveness of intercropping depends on many factors, one of which is the proper selection of crop species. It is good if the plants selected for intercropping have different growth rates, nutrient requirements, etc. Therefore, I think that the problem raised in the research is current and interesting.

The research presented in the manuscript was well planned and performed, it allows to explain the hypotheses put forward in the introduction. But after reading the manuscript, many comments and doubts arise.

Most important notes

1. Manuscript requires thorough language correction. Needs improvement in style and grammar.

2. The 'Introduction' chapter must be corrected and supplemented. Currently, it is chaotic and incomprehensible in some parts. This chapter should provide more information on intercropping tobacco with other plants. How did it affect the yield, quality and properties of the soil or the economic efficiency of cultivation. Such research already exists.

3. Subsection 2.1.

- please provide the course of weather conditions during the research period and compare with long-term data

- please specify how and how many soil samples were taken. What methods were used to determine soil properties? What does "effective nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium" mean? Maybe available phosphorus and potassium? And what form of nitrogen was it?.

- please provide the soil type, preferably according to international nomenclature, e.g. WRB

Subsection 2.2.

- according to what experimental setup was the experiment established?

- in how many repetitions

- what was the size of the plots?

- something is unclear here  - “spacing of tobacco and Salvia miltiorrhiza was 75 cm, the row spacing of Salvia miltiorrhiza was 35 cm, the row spacing of tobacco was 50 cm, and the row spacing of Salvia miltiorrhiza was 20 cm.”

- the authors write that – “…was fertilised with tobacco-specific basal fertiliser at 900 kg/hm2, about 54 g per plant” - Please provide what ingredients and in what quantities they were used. The unit should be kg/ha. I believe it is more correct to use the exponential notation of units, in accordance with international rules, e.g kg ha-1, mg kg-1, etc..

- how were soil samples taken and from what level?

Subsection 2.3.  

 “Roasted cigarettes” - that's not the right word

- Is it standard practice to harvest all tobacco leaves at one time? In some countries, several stages of harvesting leaves from different levels are used. This is related to the different maturity of these leaves

- “…to the national standard GB 2635-92” - please include this in References

- “…(B2F, C3F, X2F)…“ - please explain what this means

- “…total phytanine should be determined”; “... total nitrogen should be determined” – or was determined?

- the description of the statistical analysis of the results is too general, please elaborate

Chapter ‘Results’

- please explain under the charts what the letters a, b, c, .. mean.

- I believe that since the trend of changes in 2018 and 2019 was similar, it would be more appropriate to provide the results on average for two years, and not only for a selected one year

- please use the same terms throughout the manuscript for tobacco development stages in which soil samples were taken and the chemical and microbiological properties of the soil were determined. “..transplanting and during the period of baking tobacco regimentation (24th May), the period of baking tobacco peak season (27th June), the period of baking tobacco buds (22nd July), and the period of ripening (25th August)” – “at transplanting, doughnutting, vigorous, bud-break, and ripening stages,” – “in the transplanting period, mass stage, flourishing stage, current stage and mature stage”

- “tobacco-tansy intercropping” ?

- table 1 – is (kg/ha2) (yuan/ha2)- should be (kg/ha or kg ha^-1); (yuan/ha or yuan ha-1)

- table 2 - please explain under the table what B2F, C3F and X2F means?

Comments on the Quality of English Language

Manuscript requires thorough language correction. Needs improvement in style and grammar. 

Author Response

Reviewer 2

1. Manuscript requires thorough language correction. Needs improvement in style and grammar.

The author’s answer:Thanks for your suggestion. We have tried our best to polish the language in the revised manuscript.

2. The 'Introduction' chapter must be corrected and supplemented. Currently, it is chaotic and incomprehensible in some parts. This chapter should provide more information on intercropping tobacco with other plants. How did it affect the yield, quality and properties of the soil or the economic efficiency of cultivation. Such research already exists.

The author’s answer:Thank you for your guidance. In the introduction part, we replaced the clear definition of flue-cured tobacco and supplemented more studies on the yield and quality of flue-cured tobacco and the physical and chemical properties of soil by intercropping other plants with flue-cured tobacco.

3. please provide the course of weather conditions during the research period and compare with long-term data.

The author’s answer:In the article, Table 1 is a supplementary long-term weather condition, and Table 2 is the weather condition during the experiment. It is found that the weather condition during the experiment is more in line with the local general climate.

4. please specify how and how many soil samples were taken. What methods were used to determine soil properties? What does "effective nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium" mean? Maybe available phosphorus and potassium? And what form of nitrogen was it?.

The author’s answer:In this study, we used five-point sampling method to take 0-20 cm soil samples from the plough layer. After drying, the soil physical and chemical properties were determined according to the ' soil survey laboratory analysis method '. The relevant experimental methods have been supplemented at subsection 2.1."effective nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium" mean available nitrogen, available phosphorus and available potassium.We were really sorry for our careless mistakes. Thank you for your reminder.Available nitrogen refers to the nitrogen in the soil that is easily absorbed and utilized by crops. There are mainly ammonium nitrogen, nitrate nitrogen, amino nitrogen, amide nitrogen and some simple polypeptides and protein compounds.It has been supplemented at subsection 2.1.Experimental site.

5. please provide the soil type, preferably according to international nomenclature, e.g. WRB

The author’s answer:According to the ' World Reference Base for Soil Resources 2014 ', the soil type of the test area was determined to be Eutric Planosols. It has been supplemented at subsection 2.1.Experimental site.

6. according to what experimental setup was the experiment established?

The author’s answer:The row spacing of the two crops is designed according to the local production system and management mode.

7. in how many repetitions

The author’s answer:Each treatment was repeated three times.It has been supplemented at 2.2. Experimental design.

8. what was the size of the plots?

The author’s answer:There are four treatments in the experiment, and the corresponding planting area of each treatment is the same, which is 667 ㎡ × 4.

9. something is unclear here - “spacing of tobacco and Salvia miltiorrhiza was 75 cm, the row spacing of Salvia miltiorrhiza was 35 cm, the row spacing of tobacco was 50 cm, and the row spacing of Salvia miltiorrhiza was 20 cm.”

The author’s answer:Thank you for pointing this out. It has been corrected on “the plant spacing of tobacco was 50 cm, and the plant spacing of Salvia miltiorrhiza was 20 cm.”

10. the authors write that – “…was fertilised with tobacco-specific basal fertiliser at 900 kg/hm2, about 54 g per plant” - Please provide what ingredients and in what quantities they were used. The unit should be kg/ha. I believe it is more correct to use the exponential notation of units, in accordance with international rules, e.g kg ha-1, mg kg-1, etc..

The author’s answer:Fertilization problem has been supplemented,flue-cured tobacco mu application of pure nitrogen 4.5 kg, N : P₂O₅ : K₂O = 1:1.24:3, of which 50 % nitrogen is provided by rotten sesame cake fertilizer ( Shanghai tobacco special organic fertilizer ), all organic fertilizer and 70 % chemical fertilizer as base fertilizer, double furrow strip application in ridging ; another 30 % chemical fertilizer was used as topdressing. The variety of Salvia miltiorrhiza is Shandong Salvia miltiorrhiza, which is applied with decomposed organic fertilizer 22.5 ~ 30.0t· ha-1 and compound fertilizer 450 ~ 750kg·ha-1 as base fertilizer. The unit has been changed.

11. how were soil samples taken and from what level?

The author’s answer:Soil samples of 0 ~ 20 cm soil layer were taken by five-point sampling method.

12. “Roasted cigarettes” - that's not the right word

The author’s answer:We feel sorry for our carelessness.All flue-cured tobacco terms have been changed.

13. Is it standard practice to harvest all tobacco leaves at one time? In some countries, several stages of harvesting leaves from different levels are used. This is related to the different maturity of these leaves

The author’s answer:It was harvested in batches according to the position of the tobacco leaf, and the initial error is represented by the time of the first harvest. The following is the full time, has been modified. On August 26 and 27,2018 and August 26 and 27,2019, the lower leaves were harvested, the middle leaves were harvested 15 days later, and the upper leaves were harvested 25 days later.

14. “…to the national standard GB 2635-92” - please include this in References

The author’s answer:It has been supplemented in Reference 17.

15. “…(B2F, C3F, X2F)…“ - please explain what this means

The author’s answer:B2F, C3F and X2F mean the representative tobacco grades of all parts of flue-cured tobacco, respectively, the second orange in the upper leaf, the third orange in the middle leaf and the second orange in the lower leaf. It has been supplemented at subsection 2.3.1.

16. “…total phytanine should be determined”; “... total nitrogen should be determined” – or was determined?

The author’s answer:It was determined.We have carefully checked the manuscript and corrected the errors accordingly.

17. the description of the statistical analysis of the results is too general, please elaborate

The author’s answer:All experimental data were processed by Excel2003 and SPSS19.0.Excel processed the original data to obtain histograms and standard deviations, and SPSS19.0 analyzed the significant differences between the treatments.It has been supplemented at subsection 2.4.

18. please explain under the charts what the letters a, b, c, .. mean.

The author’s answer:The a,b,c and d mean the representation of whether the difference is significant in the data analysis by the LSD method, and the difference containing the same letter is not significant.It has been supplemented at Table 4.

19. I believe that since the trend of changes in 2018 and 2019 was similar, it would be more appropriate to provide the results on average for two years, and not only for a selected one year

The author’s answer:Thanks for your advice, this paper mainly uses the data of 2019, mainly considering that the data of the second year of intercropping can better explain the impact of intercropping on crops.

20. please use the same terms throughout the manuscript for tobacco development stages in which soil samples were taken and the chemical and microbiological properties of the soil were determined. “..transplanting and during the period of baking tobacco regimentation (24th May), the period of baking tobacco peak season (27th June), the period of baking tobacco buds (22nd July), and the period of ripening (25th August)” – “at transplanting, doughnutting, vigorous, bud-break, and ripening stages,” – “in the transplanting period, mass stage, flourishing stage, current stage and mature stage”

The author’s answer:We were really sorry for our careless mistakes. Thank you for your reminder.We have made the changes.

21. “tobacco-tansy intercropping” ?

The author’s answer:Thank you for pointing this out. The tobacco-tansy intercropping has been corrected on tobacco-Salvia Miltiorrhiza intercropping system.

22. table 1 – is (kg/ha2) (yuan/ha2)- should be (kg/ha or kg ha-1); (yuan/ha or yuan ha-1)

 table 2 - please explain under the table what B2F, C3F and X2F means?

The author’s answer:This part has been modified. Thank you again for your reminder.

Reviewer 3 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

Manuscript no 2843955: Tobacco/Salvia Miltiorrhiza Intercropping system improves the soil quality and Increase Total production value

The authors, Su et al., researched the effects of intercropping Salvia miltiorrhiza with tobacco on soil fertility improvement and tobacco yield increase. The manuscript is difficult to review as it has no line numbering to refer to the changes in the document. Above all, the language and terms used in this study need to be clearly defined.

I have only provided herewith the general comments.

Research Title

It should be improved.

Abstract

It needs critical improvement.

1. Introduction

·       The first and third sentences require supporting references.

·     The introduction needs to be reviewed critically for logical flow. Some of the terms, like roasted tobacco, require a real definition, which makes it difficult to grasp what they mean, unless the authors mean cured tobacco. If so, the correct term (cured tobacco instead of roasted tobacco) should be used.

2. Materials and methodologies

 2.1.

·       Incomplete wording needs to be corrected, such as ‘annual mean.

·  The source of information and a table for the rainfall and temperature for about 16 years from each site are not shown. Therefore, it is not justifiable to use the average results covering all the sites.

·       How the soil samples were sampled is not shown.

·       Methodologies for determining soil nutrients are not shown.

 

2.2.

·       The experimental design used was not mentioned.

·      Is a cigarette a crop or a tobacco product? What is baking tobacco? Please define

·       Treatments and replications are not clearly stated, e.g., treatments under inorganic fertilization (no nutrients fertilizer formular given), treatments under intercropping (tobacco with Salvia miltiorrhiza), tobacco alone (unfertilized), Salvia miltiorrhiza alone to see its contribution to the soil fertility, etc.

·     Time for seedbed preparation and basal and top-dressing fertilizer applications is not shown.

 

2.3.

·       How is so-called cigarette tobacco harvested for only two days?

·       What was the role of Salvia Miltiorrhiza being harvested?

·       Was the flue-cured or air-cured crop grown? 

·   The language used for the determination of nicotine, reducing sugar, and nutrients is very confusing and needs to be reviewed by an English language expert.

 

2.4.

·       An explanation of how the data were processed and analyzed needs to be provided. In this study, analysis using Excel and SPSS cannot be trusted as this is not a social study but rather a science study that needs other critical analysis to be included.

·    The terms used for tobacco, such as baking, roasting, and cigarette, are confusing and need to be defined and require an expert to review the article.

Comments on the Quality of English Language

The article needs be reviewed by the English language expert

Author Response

Reviewer 3

1. Research Title .It should be improved.Abstract.It needs critical improvement.

The author’s answer:We 've done a language polish on the Title and the Abstract. If there are any other modifications we could make, please let us know. We would like very much to modify them and we really appreciate your help.

2. The first and third sentences require supporting references.The introduction needs to be reviewed critically for logical flow. Some of the terms, like roasted tobacco, require a real definition, which makes it difficult to grasp what they mean, unless the authors mean cured tobacco. If so, the correct term (cured tobacco instead of roasted tobacco) should be used.

The author’s answer:In the introduction part, we corrected the clear definition of flue-cured tobacco and supplemented more studies on the yield and quality of flue-cured tobacco and the physical and chemical properties of soil by intercropping other plants with flue-cured tobacco. On the issue of terminology has also been checked and modified, thank you for your advice.

3. Incomplete wording needs to be corrected, such as ‘annual mean.

The author’s answer:We sincerely thank the reviewer for careful reading. As suggested by the reviewer, we have corrected the “ annual mean” correctly.

4. The source of information and a table for the rainfall and temperature for about 16 years from each site are not shown. Therefore, it is not justifiable to use the average results covering all the sites.

The author’s answer:We have supplemented the weather conditions in the test area in Tables 1 and 2, and attached references to thank you for your suggestions.

5. How the soil samples were sampled is not shown.Methodologies for determining soil nutrients are not shown.

The author’s answer:In this study, we used five-point sampling method to take 0-20 cm soil samples from the plough layer. After drying, the soil physical and chemical properties were determined according to the ' soil survey laboratory analysis method '. The relevant experimental methods have been supplemented at subsection 2.1.

6. The experimental design used was not mentioned.

The author’s answer:According to the local production system and management mode, the experiment set up three intercropping methods, with flue-cured tobacco as the control, a total of four treatments, each treatment had three replicates.

7. Is a cigarette a crop or a tobacco product? What is baking tobacco? Please define

The author’s answer:Thank you for pointing this out.The detailed definition of flue-cured tobacco has been supplemented in the introduction.

8. Treatments and replications are not clearly stated, e.g., treatments under inorganic fertilization (no nutrients fertilizer formular given), treatments under intercropping (tobacco with Salvia miltiorrhiza), tobacco alone (unfertilized), Salvia miltiorrhiza alone to see its contribution to the soil fertility, etc.

The author’s answer:The experiment had four treatments, each treatment had three replicates. The fertilization problem has been modified and supplemented in Section 2.2.

9. Time for seedbed preparation and basal and top-dressing fertilizer applications is not shown.

The author’s answer:Flue-cured tobacco and Salvia miltiorrhiza were raised in small sheds about 20 days in advance. Transplanting was carried out on April 27, 2018 and April 29, 2019. During the experiment, management measures such as weeding irrigation and pest control were carried out according to conventional methods.

10. How is so-called cigarette tobacco harvested for only two days?

The author’s answer:It is harvested in batches according to the position of the tobacco leaf, and the initial error is represented by the time of the first harvest. The following is the full time, has been modified. On August 26 and 27,2018 and August 26 and 27,2019, the lower leaves were harvested, the middle leaves were harvested 15 days later, and the upper leaves were harvested 25 days later.

11. What was the role of Salvia Miltiorrhiza being harvested?

The author’s answer:The rhizomes were harvested and sold directly as the original drug after the experiment. Supplemented in 2.3.1.

12. Was the flue-cured or air-cured crop grown? 

The author’s answer:The test planting is Flue-cured tobacco and Salvia

13. The language used for the determination of nicotine, reducing sugar, and nutrients is very confusing and needs to be reviewed by an English language expert.

The author’s answer:Thanks for your suggestion. We have tried our best to polish the language in the revised manuscript.

14. An explanation of how the data were processed and analyzed needs to be provided. In this study, analysis using Excel and SPSS cannot be trusted as this is not a social study but rather a science study that needs other critical analysis to be included.

The author’s answer:This part has been modified in Section 2.4, thank you for your mention.All experimental data were processed by Excel2003 and SPSS19.0.Excel processed the original data to obtain histograms and standard deviations, and SPSS19.0 analyzed the significant differences between the treatments.

15. The terms used for tobacco, such as baking, roasting, and cigarette, are confusing and need to be defined and require an expert to review the article

The author’s answer:Thanks for your suggestion. We feel sorry for our poor writings,we have re-examined the problem of terminology and made modifications.

Reviewer 4 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

The presented work deals with (investigate the effects of intercropping Salvia miltiorrhiza with roasted tobacco (cultivar NC102) on various aspects, including soil microorganisms, physicochemical properties, and the quality of roasted tobacco yield. The researchers established four different treatments: roasted tobacco monoculture (CK), and roasted tobacco Salvia miltiorrhiza row ratios of 1:1 (TS11), 2:2 (TS22), and 2:3 (TS23).

The manuscript is generally (well written) however, I observed some minor grammar and syntax errors, as well as capitalization and punctuation errors throughout the manuscript text

 

In the following contains some of in-depth comments, criticisms, worries, and recommendations that should be taken into account before a final judgment on the document is made. In light of the criticisms I've provided below, I predict that the rewritten document will produce a considerably different form from the one it is in now. As a result, I advise resubmitting this work because it typically yields some intriguing results.

 

Sincerely

The main criticism points are:

The authors described this work accurately but the article lacks some considerations like :

 

-  Why you didn't Monitor soil moisture levels regularly and implement efficient irrigation practices? it would be better if you Adjust irrigation schedules based on the water requirements of both crops to optimize growth and yield.

 

 - What about Pest and Disease Management?  For example, Implement integrated pest management (IPM) strategies to control pests and diseases. because it's important to Monitor for signs of pests and diseases regularly and take prompt action to minimize damage.

 

- What is the Plan for the timing of the harvest for both crops to maximize overall yield and quality?

 

- You had to Utilize appropriate harvesting techniques to minimize damage to the plants and ensure optimal product quality.

 

-  it was important to evaluate Economic Analysis. why you didn't Conduct an economic analysis to evaluate the overall profitability of the intercropping system? it was important to Consider factors such as input costs, labor requirements, and market prices for both tobacco and Salvia miltiorrhiza.

 

- what about Assessing the impact of the intercropping system on local biodiversity and the surrounding environment? you had to Consider implementing sustainable and environmentally friendly practices to minimize negative impacts.

 

 

-        There are some grammatical, punctuation; syntax errors for example in page 3  remove this words (obviously) and (in order to )  and others in all article . could you check it and correct please ?

 

-       References 16  and 26 .  please make sure from information .

 

 

-       The article lacks new references

Comments on the Quality of English Language

moderate

Author Response

Reviewer 4

1. The manuscript is generally (well written) however, I observed some minor grammar and syntax errors, as well as capitalization and punctuation errors throughout the manuscript text. 

The author’s answer: We feel sorry for our carelessness. In our resubmitted manuscript, these questions were revised. Thanks for your correction.

2. Why you didn't Monitor soil moisture levels regularly and implement efficient irrigation practices? it would be better if you Adjust irrigation schedules based on the water requirements of both crops to optimize growth and yield.

 What about Pest and Disease Management?  For example, Implement integrated pest management (IPM) strategies to control pests and diseases. because it's important to Monitor for signs of pests and diseases regularly and take prompt action to minimize damage.

The author’s answer:We agree that more research will help to understand the details of interactions and enhancements, such as irrigation measures, pest management, and so on. At this point, we did not have more energy and time to study this aspect. Both irrigation measures and pest management are based on standard field management methods ( this part has been supplemented in Section 2.2 ). In the future, we will focus on this aspect.

3. What is the Plan for the timing of the harvest for both crops to maximize overall yield and quality?

The author’s answer:Flue-cured tobacco was harvested at the mature stage. The lower leaves were harvested on August 26 and 27,2018 and August 26 and 27,2019, the middle leaves were harvested after 15 days, and the upper leaves were harvested after 25 days. Salvia miltiorrhiza was harvested on November 15-16, 2018 and 2019, respectively.

4. You had to Utilize appropriate harvesting techniques to minimize damage to the plants and ensure optimal product quality.

The author’s answer:Harvest technology has been supplemented in Section 2.3.1. Flue-cured tobacco is conventionally harvested and roasted, and Salvia miltiorrhiza is harvested and dug. 

5. it was important to evaluate Economic Analysis. why you didn't Conduct an economic analysis to evaluate the overall profitability of the intercropping system? it was important to Consider factors such as input costs, labor requirements, and market prices for both tobacco and Salvia miltiorrhiza.

The author’s answer:Thank you for your advice, I agree with you that economic analysis is very important. This experiment mainly focuses on two aspects in the implementation process : one is the improvement of intercropping on soil, and the other is the impact of intercropping on total output value. There is no systematic analysis on the input cost of production, labor demand and market price fluctuations. Therefore, there is no analysis of this part, and future research will focus on this aspect.

6. what about Assessing the impact of the intercropping system on local biodiversity and the surrounding environment? you had to Consider implementing sustainable and environmentally friendly practices to minimize negative impacts.

The author’s answer:Thank you for your advice.The intercropping system has a positive effect on alleviating continuous cropping obstacles and improving soil quality. It can improve the sustainable production capacity of soil, provide more complex living environment for organisms, and provide more food and habitat environment. During the experiment, we also adhered to the principle of green ecology and strived to reduce the damage to the surrounding environment. The sustainability and environmental protection of the intercropping system are still worthy of recognition, but more in-depth research is still needed to ensure that the system can maximize its potential advantages.

7. There are some grammatical, punctuation; syntax errors for example in page 3  remove this words (obviously) and (in order to )  and others in all article . could you check it and correct please ?

The author’s answer:Thanks for your suggestion. We have re-examined this part and made changes.

8. References 16  and 26 .  please make sure from information .The article lacks new references

The author’s answer:We sincerely appreciate the valuable comments. We have checked the literature carefully and added more references to the revised manuscript. 

Round 2

Reviewer 2 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

The authors made major changes to the manuscript. However, in my opinion it still requires changes and additions. The manuscript still requires linguistic and stylistic corrections. the sentences are too long, some take up to 9 lines. Some questionable fragments are marked in yellow.

The most important notes:

1. In subsection 2.1. please describe methods for determining only those soil properties that are given in the manuscript. The rest are unnecessary.

2. There is no need to provide weather data for each year of the previous 10 years. A common practice in agricultural research is to provide an average for many years - 10, 20 years - and compare weather conditions during the research period to it.

Annual average temperature says little about plant growth conditions. there should be averages/sums for individual months. And there is no need for 12 months, only for the period of research.(April – November)

3. Authors did not specify the scheme according to which the experiment was conducted. completely randomized blocks? or others?

4. Authors write that ‘It is divided into four regions, each region has the same planting area, which is about 667 ㎡’. and further the authors write that “Each treatment was repeated three times” I don't understand? what was the size of a single plot? how many rows of tobacco and sage there were in each plot in each variant.

5. what was the width of the inter-rows in monoculture tobacco cultivation?

6. Another unclear and questionable paragraph – “Flue-cured tobacco variety NC102, flue-cured tobacco mu application of pure nitrogen 4.5 kg, N : P2O5: K2O = 1:1.24:3, of which 50 % nitrogen is provided by rotten sesame cake fertilizer (Shanghai tobacco special organic fertilizer ), all organic fertilizer and 70 % chemical fertilizer as base fertilizer, double furrow strip application in ridging ; another 30 % chemical fertilizer was used as topdressing” . how much organic fertilizer was used how much mineral fertilizers and individual ingredients were used.

7. And the next – “applied with decomposed organic fertilizer 22.5 ~ 30.0t· ha-1 and compound fertilizer 450 ~ 750kg·ha-1 as base fertilizer” - so how much of this compound fertilizer was used? what kind of fertilizer was it? How much N, P, K was used in this fertilizer? what organic fertilizer was it? the same as for tobacco?

next question. How were organic fertilizers and mineral fertilizers applied in intercropping?

8. And the next – “During the experiment, the management measures such as weeding irrigation, pest control and so on were carried out according to the conventional method” - what are the conventional methods? Were any chemicals used? This is one of the problems with intercropping.

9. Regarding data processing, the authors write that – “and SPSS19.0 analyzed the significant differences between the treatments”.   what methods were used? Anova? What test was used to assess the significance of differences?

The research methodology should be described so thoroughly and precisely that it would be possible to conduct such an experiment in another place and compare the obtained results.

10. How do the authors explain the differences found in soil properties between monocropping tabacco and intercropping with Salvia miltiorrhiza  during the transplanting stage?

11. the authors use several terms interchangeably, i.e. single cropping of flue-cured tobacco; flue-cured tobacco monoculture; flue-cured tobacco mono-intercropping; flue-cured tobacco monocropping. This is not correct.

Comments for author File: Comments.pdf

Comments on the Quality of English Language

manuscript requires linguistic and stylistic correction. Maybe you can ask a friend who is a native speaker for help

Author Response

Reviewer 2.

The authors made major changes to the manuscript. However, in my opinion it still requires changes and additions. The manuscript still requires linguistic and stylistic corrections. the sentences are too long, some take up to 9 lines. Some questionable fragments are marked in yellow.

The author’s answer:First of all, we sincerely thank you for your careful reading. According to your suggestion, we have corrected the yellow part of your logo one by one.

1. In subsection 2.1. please describe methods for determining only those soil properties that are given in the manuscript. The rest are unnecessary.

The author’s answer:Thank you for your mention, we have deleted the unnecessary part.

2. There is no need to provide weather data for each year of the previous 10 years. A common practice in agricultural research is to provide an average for many years - 10, 20 years - and compare weather conditions during the research period to it.

Annual average temperature says little about plant growth conditions. there should be averages/sums for individual months. And there is no need for 12 months, only for the period of research.(April – November)

The author’s answer:Thank you for pointing this out.According to your suggestions, we deleted the annual weather data and reduced the weather data during the study period to April-November. We also added more comparisons with the weather conditions necessary for the growth of flue-cured tobaccoto to make our results convincing.

3. Authors did not specify the scheme according to which the experiment was conducted. completely randomized blocks? or others?

The author’s answer:Thank you for your mention.Each treatment was repeated three times, a total of twelve plots, each plot area of 222.3 ㎡, field random arrangement.This part has been added in Section 2.2.

4. Authors write that ‘It is divided into four regions, each region has the same planting area, which is about 667 ㎡’. and further the authors write that “Each treatment was repeated three times” I don't understand? what was the size of a single plot? how many rows of tobacco and sage there were in each plot in each variant.

The author’s answer:We have re-written this part according to the Reviewer’s suggestion in Section 2.2. “Each treatment was repeated three times, a total of twelve plots, each plot area of 222.3 ㎡. In CK, 9 rows of flue-cured tobacco were planted in each replicate plot, about 390 plants ; TS11 was planted with 7 rows of flue-cured tobacco and 6 rows of Salvia miltiorrhiza in each replicate plot, about 300 flue-cured tobacco and 650 Salvia miltiorrhiza. TS22 planting 7 rows of flue-cured tobacco, 6 rows of Salvia miltiorrhiza, about 300 flue-cured tobacco, about0 650 Salvia miltiorrhiza ; TS23 was planted with 6 rows of flue-cured tobacco and 9 rows of Salvia miltiorrhiza in each replicate plot. There were about 260 flue-cured tobacco and 950 Salvia miltiorrhiza.”

5. what was the width of the inter-rows in monoculture tobacco cultivation?

The author’s answer:We were really sorry for our careless mistakes. Thank you for your reminder.This part has been added in Section 2.2..Flue-cured tobacco monoculture, flue-cured tobacco row spacing 110cm, plant spacing 50cm .

6. Another unclear and questionable paragraph – “Flue-cured tobacco variety NC102, flue-cured tobacco mu application of pure nitrogen 4.5 kg, N : P2O5: K2O = 1:1.24:3, of which 50 % nitrogen is provided by rotten sesame cake fertilizer (Shanghai tobacco special organic fertilizer ), all organic fertilizer and 70 % chemical fertilizer as base fertilizer, double furrow strip application in ridging ; another 30 % chemical fertilizer was used as topdressing” . how much organic fertilizer was used how much mineral fertilizers and individual ingredients were used.

The author’s answer:Thank you for your mention. We have reduced some unnecessary descriptions and added ingredients and dosage according to your suggestions.This part has been added in Section 2.2.

7. And the next – “applied with decomposed organic fertilizer 22.5 ~ 30.0t· ha-1 and compound fertilizer 450 ~ 750kg·ha-1 as base fertilizer” - so how much of this compound fertilizer was used? what kind of fertilizer was it? How much N, P, K was used in this fertilizer? what organic fertilizer was it? the same as for tobacco?

The author’s answer:Thank you for pointing this out. We feel sorry for our carelessness. We redefined the rotten organic fertilizer and made changes.Rotten organic fertilizer refers to the organic-rich waste such as livestock and poultry manure, sludge, rotten branches and leaves or domestic waste, which is produced by decay and fermentation. It can supplement the nutrients needed for crop growth, improve soil activity and promote crop production.

next question. How were organic fertilizers and mineral fertilizers applied in intercropping?

The author’s answer:The base fertilizer is fertilized by strip application. Because Salvia miltiorrhiza is a deep-rooted crop, the requirements for water and fertilizer are not strict, and the growth time is long, so it is not treated with topdressing. After 30 days of flue-cured tobacco transplanting, topdressing is applied to the root ( 20cm from the root ). More specific content has been pointed out in Section 2.2.

8. And the next – “During the experiment, the management measures such as weeding irrigation, pest control and so on were carried out according to the conventional method” - what are the conventional methods? Were any chemicals used? This is one of the problems with intercropping.

The author’s answer:Thank you for pointing this out. “After transplanting, the soil was loosened 2-3 times in time to maintain loose soil between rows. Combined with the soil conditions, the hole irrigation method was used to irrigate the appropriate amount at the right time ( 1 time each at transplanting stage, rosette stage and mature stage, 3 times at vigorous growth stage ). Diseases and insect pests prevention and control is given priority to with prevention, strictly regulate farming operations, timely eliminate diseased leaves, focus on tobacco black shank disease ( with 25 % Ruidumei wettable powder 400 ~ 500 times liquid control ), ordinary tobacco mosaic disease ( with 0.1 % zinc sulfate prevention ), flue-cured tobacco and Salvia miltiorrhiza common pest aphids ( with 4 000 times liquid control ) control. When the leaves on the top of the tobacco plant are about 15cm long, the top is toppled. When the top is toppled, 2-4 leaves in the lower part and 3-4 leaves in the upper part are removed, and the number of available leaves is 21-23. ”This part has been supplemented in Section 2.2.

9. Regarding data processing, the authors write that – “and SPSS19.0 analyzed the significant differences between the treatments”.   what methods were used? Anova? What test was used to assess the significance of differences?

The research methodology should be described so thoroughly and precisely that it would be possible to conduct such an experiment in another place and compare the obtained results.

The author’s answer:Thanks for your careful checks. We are sorry for our carelessness. “All experimental data were processed and analyzed by Microsoft Excel 2019 and SPSS 26.0 statistical software. Excel processed the original data to obtain histogram and standard deviation ; one-way analysis of variance and LSD test were used to test the significance of the differences between the treatments.”This part has been supplemented in Section 2.4.

10. How do the authors explain the differences found in soil properties between monocropping tabacco and intercropping with Salvia miltiorrhiza  during the transplanting stage?

The author’s answer:Considering that the data of the second year of intercropping can better explain the impact of intercropping on crops, we analyzed the data of 2019 when analyzing soil properties. From the 3 small energy saving, it is obvious that some data are quite different during the transplanting period. For example, the number of bacteria in CK is the lowest, and the number of fungi is the highest ( for crop growth, the number of bacteria is low, and the number of fungi is high, which will affect the timely supply of effective nutrients in the soil, lead to the aggravation of crop diseases, and reduce crop yield and quality ). Several treatments have improved significantly, indicating that the intercropping in 2018 has improved the soil, which can also prove the advantages of the flue-cured tobacco-Salvia miltiorrhiza intercropping system.

11. the authors use several terms interchangeably, i.e. single cropping of flue-cured tobacco; flue-cured tobacco monoculture; flue-cured tobacco mono-intercropping; flue-cured tobacco monocropping. This is not correct.

The author’s answer:We are very sorry for our incorrect writing.The writing of monoculture and intercropping has been thoroughly examined. Thank you for your tips.

Reviewer 3 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

Manuscript no 2843955: Tobacco/Salvia Miltiorrhiza Intercropping system improves the soil quality and Increase Total production value

The authors, Su et al., have greatly worked out my comments given previously. However, I noted a few areas that require correction, especially in the title and experimental materials and methods section.

 

Title: Rephrase the title to read “Tobacco/Salvia Miltiorrhiza Intercropping improves soil quality and increases total production value”

 Experimental Materials and Methods

2.2.

• When is topdressing fertilizer applied?
• What does flue-cured tobacco mu mean?
• Rephrase this sentence. “The variety of Salvia miltiorrhiza is Shandong Salvia miltiorrhiza, which is applied with decomposed organic fertilizer (22.5 ~ 30.0t· ha^-1 and compound fertilizer (450 ~ 750kg·ha^-1 as the base fertilizer”
• List all parameters for which the measurements were taken, not saying ‘..and so on..’
• Move the statement saying ‘Each treatment was repeated three times’ to the end of a sentence (20 cm) in the first paragraph of Section 2.2.
• Mature harvest of tobacco leaves, according to the three-stage baking process. This sentence seems to be hanging or incomplete! Consider deleting
• The last paragraph of Section 2.2 starts with “Samples were collected at the transplanting stage, the rosette stage..." Which are those samples collected at the transplanting stage?

2.3.1

• A fourth line says, “Flue-cured tobacco leaves were baked." What do you mean by 'baked'"? I hope it should be ‘cured in a curing barn'... the dry yield and quality (add the word dry before the word yield).
• What do you mean by ‘the modulated tobacco'? It should be "cured tobacco." Please use the correct term.
• Insert a word ‘by’ before the word “continuous flow method."
• After the word 'products', add ‘was done’ (check all sentences to the end of the paragraph).

3.

• Considering that the data from the second... and leaf How were these analyzed? Kindly explain

3.2

• Check the initial and final spacing after these brackets (Fig. 5; Fig. 6)

4.2

• Search for monocropping and replace it with monoculture.

 

Comments on the Quality of English Language

Good but require a moderate editing in some few areas

Author Response

1.When is topdressing fertilizer applied?

The author’s answer:Thank you for your mention.Flue-cured tobacco transplanting 30 days after topdressing, has been added in the 2.2.

2.What does flue-cured tobacco mu mean?

The author’s answer:I 'm sorry this is a wrong unit writing and has been corrected to an international unit “㎡”.

3.Rephrase this sentence. “The variety of Salvia miltiorrhiza is Shandong Salvia miltiorrhiza, which is applied with decomposed organic fertilizer (22.5 ~ 30.0t· ha-1 and compound fertilizer (450 ~ 750kg·ha-1 as the base fertilizer”

List all parameters for which the measurements were taken, not saying ‘..and so on..’

The author’s answer:Thank you for your instructions, the specific fertilization related content, we have made a re adjustment in the 2.2 section, and added the ingredients and dosage.

4.Move the statement saying ‘Each treatment was repeated three times’ to the end of a sentence (20 cm) in the first paragraph of Section 2.2.

The author’s answer:Thanks for your careful checks. Based on your comments, we have adjusted this sentence to the first paragraph of Section 2.2 and expanded it to make it more accurate.

5.Mature harvest of tobacco leaves, according to the three-stage baking process. This sentence seems to be hanging or incomplete! Consider deleting

The author’s answer:We feel sorry for our carelessness.We have reworded this sentence. “After mature harvest, the tobacco leaves were cured in a curing barn according to the three-stage curing process.”

6.The last paragraph of Section 2.2 starts with “Samples were collected at the transplanting stage, the rosette stage..." Which are those samples collected at the transplanting stage?

The author’s answer:We collected the soil on the day of transplanting ( April 29 ). In the third section, the corresponding data of transplanting period are sample data.

7.A fourth line says, “Flue-cured tobacco leaves were baked." What do you mean by 'baked'"? I hope it should be ‘cured in a curing barn'... the dry yield and quality (add the word dry before the word yield).

What do you mean by ‘the modulated tobacco'? It should be "cured tobacco." Please use the correct term.

Insert a word ‘by’ before the word “continuous flow method."

After the word 'products', add ‘was done’ (check all sentences to the end of the paragraph).

The author’s answer:We have carefully checked the manuscript and corrected the errors accordingly.Thank you again for your positive comments and valuable suggestions to improve the quality of our manuscript.

8.Considering that the data from the second... and leaf How were these analyzed? Kindly explain

The author’s answer:I 'm sorry that I 'm not sure if you mean the analysis of the table 'Effect of interlayer of flue-cured tobacco and Salvia miltiorrhiza on the chemical composition of flue-cured tobacco leaves '，We have re-written this part in Section 3.4.Thank you for your mention.

9.Check the initial and final spacing after these brackets (Fig. 5; Fig. 6)

The author’s answer:Thank you for your mention, we have corrected.

10.Search for monocropping and replace it with monoculture.

The author’s answer:We sincerely thank the reviewer for careful reading. As suggested by the reviewer, we have corrected the “monocropping” into “monoculture”.

 

Reviewer 4 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

The authors responded precisely to comments raised by the reviewer. The manuscript can be considered for publication in its current version

Author Response

Thank you for taking the valuable time to review my manuscript. In your busy schedule, it is of great significance for me to focus on my research work. Your review not only helps me find the deficiencies in the manuscript, but also provides me with valuable ideas and directions. Thank you again for your valuable comments and suggestions for this manuscript.

 

We appreciate for Reviewers’ warm work earnestly, and hope that the correction will meet with approval. Should you have any questions, please contact us without hesitate. 

Once again, thank you very much for your comments and suggestions.