Contribution of Agroforestry Systems in the Cultivation of Naranjilla (Solanum quitoense) Grown in the Amazon Region of Ecuador

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Please refer to the seasons as the rainy season (900mm) and the dry season (479mm), not the heavier rainy and less rainy season.

Table 2 means separation is incorrect. There can be no "ab" if there is not a "b".

Line 304  ...C:N ration decreased in the third cycle..., paper says it increased.

Author Response

Comment: Please refer to the seasons as the rainy season (900mm) and the dry season (479mm), not the heavier rainy and less rainy season.

Reply: The changes in the terminology have been done according to the reviewer suggestion in the whole document.

Comment: Table 2 means separation is incorrect. There can be no "ab" if there is not a "b".

Reply: The significance ranges have been corrected because it was a mistyping mistake; however this table has been replaced by a figure to show the data because it was a suggestion of another reviewer.

Comment: Line 304 ...C:N ration decreased in the third cycle..., paper says it increased.

Reply: This mistake has been corrected in the data of the table, because it increased.

Reviewer 2 Report

The manuscript performed experiments to investigate contribution of agroforestry systems in the clutivation of Na-ranjilla in the Ecuadorian Amazon. Good results were obtained and the methods seem right. I think it’s acceptable if the following issues could be addressed:

The introduction should be improved. After reading the current version, the scope of the manuscript seems to be limited. The objective of the present manuscript is to determine how legume species influence naranjilla fruit yield, and carbon storage. There are several methods for carbon storage and it can be improved to give a brief description of these carbon storage strategies, such as CO2 EOR, CO2 enhance gas recovery, hydrate storage, mineralization, et al. Some recently published papers can provide a good guide, such as Chemical engineering journal, 2022,430:133172; Communications Chemistry. 2022, 5(1):33. This is essential for a broad readership of this journal.

Does the analysis of earthworm affected by the sampling?

Only 2 figure is provided, some data may be illustrated in figure.

A chart is necessary to provide the relationship between biomass, element amount, and the presence of earthworms.

Author Response

Comment: The introduction should be improved. After reading the current version, the scope of the manuscript seems to be limited. The objective of the present manuscript is to determine how legume species influence naranjilla fruit yield, and carbon storage. There are several methods for carbon storage and it can be improved to give a brief description of these carbon storage strategies, such as CO2 EOR, CO2 enhance gas recovery, hydrate storage, mineralization, et al. Some recently published papers can provide a good guide, such as Chemical engineering journal, 2022,430:133172; Communications Chemistry. 2022, 5(1):33. This is essential for a broad readership of this journal.

Reply: The introduction has been improved including information about carbon storage strategies, using the literature that the reviewer suggested.

Comment: Does the analysis of earthworm affected by the sampling?

Reply: The sampling did not affect the earthworm analysis because it was carried out randomly and the soil sample that was analyzed for the earthworm count was representative of the crop. This is described in the methodology.

Comment: Only 2 figure is provided, some data may be illustrated in figure.

Reply: Some tables have been replaced by figures to show the data, according to the reviewer suggestion.

Comment: A chart is necessary to provide the relationship between biomass, element amount, and the presence of earthworms.

Reply: A table showing the relationship among the biomass soil nutrients and earthworm quantity has been included.