Histological Variations in Cucumber Grafted Plants and Their Effect on Yield

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

An interesting experiment comparing the effect of three rootstocks on cucumber yield. Additional histopathological tests enrich the publications. The authors should add some more important results to the abstract and indicate the best combination of rootstock and variety. Many minor methodological and editorial errors indicated in the text of the publication should be corrected.In the discussion, the names of plant species studied by other authors should be provided and the results obtained by them should be cited. Difficulty in tracking these results is that not all publications were published in English.

Comments for author File: Comments.pdf

Comments on the Quality of English Language

Sufficient level of English.

Author Response

Dear Reviewer 1

We thank you for your interest in our paper. Our point-by-point responses regarding comments are detailed on the following pages. All the changes suggested were highlighted with yellow.

An interesting experiment comparing the effect of three rootstocks on cucumber yield. Additional histopathological tests enrich the publications. The authors should add some more important results to the abstract and indicate the best combination of rootstock and variety. Many minor methodological and editorial errors indicated in the text of the publication should be corrected. In the discussion, the names of plant species studied by other authors should be provided and the results obtained by them should be cited. Difficulty in tracking these results is that not all publications were published in English.

Sufficient level of English.

Comment 1.  Specific results of the most important tested parameters obtained on individual rootstocks should be provided

Answer to Comment 1. The most important results have been added to the manuscript as you suggested.

Comment 2. Standardize the spelling of Latin names, preferably in italics

Answer to Comment 2. It was standardized the spelling of Latin names in italics

Comment 3. There is no fourth letter in other places, standardize everywhe

Answer to Comment 3. The variable has been standardized to PSP

 

Comment 4. Upper index

Answer to Comment 4. Correction has been made

Comment 5. Provide the number of plants for each combination, whether there were any repetitions

Answer to Comment 5. The number of plants evaluated with the repetitions has been added

 

 

Comment 6. How many fruits were measured, how many plants

Answer to Comment 6. The fruits of plants evaluated with the repetitions has been added

Comment 7. Add methodology at the beginning

Answer to Comment 7. The change has been made

Comment 8. Also include in the abstract

Answer to Comment 8. It has been included in the abstract

Comment 9. What species the research concerned and what results were obtained, mention them here

Answer to Comment 9. The requested information has been added

Comment 10.  What species the research concerned and what results were obtained, mention them here

Answer to Comment 10. The requested information has been added

Comment 11. Remove it is above in the title

Answer to Comment 11. It has been removed thanks for your observation

Comment 12. What kind of vegetable

Answer to Comment 12. It was added what species it is

Reviewer 2 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

In the manuscript “Histological variations in cucumber grafted plants and their effect on yield”, the authors investigated the response of cucumber crop to the tested rootstocks. The anatomical and some morphological and phenotypic characteristics were determined. Overall, the manuscript is interesting. However, there are some problems that need to be solved before publication.

 

1. It is well known that grafted plants can improve their tolerance to biotic and abiotic stress, as well as their yield formation. Then, what’s the novelty of this manuscript? The authors should give more new insights in the revised manuscript.

2. The language present in the manuscript is not very fluent. I suggest that the authors could turn to a native speaker or a language editing service company for help.

3. The root cross sections of rootstocks ((Cucurbita maxima, Cucurbita moschata and Citrullus lanatus) may differ from each other due to their species. What’s the meaning for conducting the experiments?

4. In addition to the morphological and anatomical indices, what’s the underlying mechanism? I suggest that the authors could supplement some experiments at the molecular level.

5. Overall, the manuscript is too descriptive, the authors just conclude their results, but limited discussion is given. As a result, I suggest that the authors should supplement more intensive discussions to take the meaning of the manuscript further.

Comments on the Quality of English Language

The language present in the manuscript is not very fluent. I suggest that the authors could turn to a native speaker or a language editing service company for help.

Author Response

Dear Reviewer 2

We thank you for your interest in our paper. Our point-by-point responses regarding comments are detailed on the following.

1.-It is well known that grafted plants can improve their tolerance to biotic and abiotic stress, as well as their yield formation. Then, what’s the novelty of this manuscript? The authors should give more new insights in the revised manuscript.

The better performance of the grafted plants is a consequence of the tolerance of the rootstocks to some pathogens or the greater tolerance to abiotic stress conditions. However, there are no studies that indicate the causes of the greater vigor that the rootstocks provide to the grafts. Anatomically, the water Flow can be affected by the number of xylem vessels, their diameter, and the capacity of plants to modulate stem water potential along the water path. Theoretically, the diameter of the vessels is more important than the number of vessels in determining the hydraulic conductance (Albornoz et al., 2020). In the present research it was possible to confirmed that the highest fruit weight per plant is highly correlated with the highest values ​​of AHVR and AVXTB, therefore, if you want to develop rootstocks to achieve high PFPP, in the genetic improvement strategies it will be necessary to consider the genotypes that present high values ​​of AHVR and AVXTB, the aforementioned can be considered before releasing new rootstocks to the seed market.

Albornoz F, Alonso G. Pérez-Donoso, Leigh Urbina J, Monasterio M, Gómez M and Steinfort U. Nitrate Transport Rate in the Xylem of Tomato Plants Grafted onto a Vigorous Rootstock. Agronomy 10, 182. 2020. doi:10.3390/agronomy10020182

 

2. The language present in the manuscript is not very fluent. I suggest that the authors could turn to a native speaker or a language editing service company for help.

This point has already been addressed

3. The root cross sections of rootstocks (Cucurbita maxima, Cucurbita moschata and Citrullus lanatus) may differ from each other due to their species. What’s the meaning for conducting the experiments?

Tsaballa et al., (2021) pointed out the amelioration of the grafting technique requires further research on the molecular mechanisms that govern grafted plants performance and significantly impact the phenotype. In this research it was possible to observe that the differences in the cross sections of the rootstocks influenced the phenotypic behavior of the grafts, which was confirmed. Therefore, it opens the possibility of using this knowledge for the development of superior rootstocks. A comprehensive knowledge about the grafted plants would greatly assist for the development of some desirable rootstocks to serve sustainable agriculture (Ilakiya et al., (2021). The choice of rootstock can affect not only scion’s growth, yield, and tolerance to stresses but also efficiently affect genes that control quality (Aslam et al., 2020). In summary, Hathi et al., (2024) points out that grafting, always offer the fastest method to introduce new traits, without the need to recombine and reselect all traits into a single non-grafted cultivar.

 

Tsaballa A., Xanthopoulou A., Madesis P., Tsaftaris A. and Nianiou-Obeidat I. Vegetable Grafting From a Molecular Point of View: The Involvement of Epigenetics in Rootstock-Scion Interactions. Front. Plant Sci. 11:621999. 2021 doi: 10.3389/fpls.2020.621999

Ilakiya T., Parameswari E., Davamani V., Yazhini G. and Sudha Singh. Grafting Mechanism in Vegetable Crops. Res J. Chem. Environ. Sci. Vol 9 [4]: 2021. 18-26

Aslam, A., Zhao, S., Azam, M., Lu, X., He, N., Li, B., et al. Comparative analysis of primary metabolites and transcriptome changes between ungrafted and pumpkin-grafted watermelon during fruit development. PeerJ 8:e8259. doi: 10.7717/peerj.8259

Hathi, H. S., Ganvit, J. M., Malviya, A. V., Purohit, S. A. and Patel, A. I. 2024. Rootstock Breeding in Vegetable Crops. Vigyan Varta 5(1): 2020. 201-204.

4. In addition to the morphological and anatomical indices, what’s the underlying mechanism? I suggest that the authors could supplement some experiments at the molecular level.

There is still a limited knowledge about the physiological and genetic factors determining the interactions between the rootstock and the scion and vice versa (Martínez-Andújar et al., 2020). In a word, there is an urgent need for studies on rootstock breeding and the rootstocks-scion interaction in grafted vegetables (Lu et al., 2020). In this research, the interaction of three genotypes with the same cucumber genotype was studied, and it was demonstrated that the genotype with the highest AHVR and AVXTB had the phenotype with the highest fruit yield per plant.  Paul et al., (2017) concluded that those genotypes with smaller xylem vessels are more susceptible to blossom-end rot because of a reduction in the transport capacity. Highlighting the importance of xylem vessels in other important aspects of crop production.

There are very few investigations into grafts at an anatomical level, this work focused on this topic in relation to agronomic variables, to later continue with the molecular part, starting with a histological explanation.

Martínez-Andújar, C., Albacete, A. and Pérez-Alfocea, F. Rootstocks for increasing yield stability and sustainability in vegetable crops. Acta Hortic. 1273, 2020. 449-470
DOI: 10.17660/ActaHortic.2020.1273.58

Lu X, Liu W, Wang T, Zhang J, Li X and Zhang W. Systemic Long-Distance Signaling and Communication Between Rootstock and Scion in Grafted Vegetables. Front. Plant Sci. 11:460. 2020.  doi: 10.3389/fpls.2020.00460

Paul, S.; Das, M.K.; Baishya, P.; Ramteke, A.; Farooq, M.; Baroowa, B.; Sunkar, R.; Gogoi, N. Effect of high temperature on yield associated parameters and vascular bundle development in five potato cultivars. Sci. Hortic. 2017, 225, 134–140.

5. Overall, the manuscript is too descriptive, the authors just conclude their results, but limited discussion is given. As a result, I suggest that the authors should supplement more intensive discussions to take the meaning of the manuscript further.

The lack of information on this topic limits the discussion on it, however, a thorough revision has been made again and more information has been added to the manuscript.

Round 2

Reviewer 2 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

Although some experiments have not been supplemented, the authors give a better explanation.