Bacillus velezensis WZ-37, a New Broad-Spectrum Biocontrol Strain, Promotes the Growth of Tomato Seedlings

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

The manuscript entitled" Bacillus velezensis WZ-37, a new broad-spectrum biocontrol strain, promotes the growth of tomato seedlings has interesting results and data, however the methodology section needs critical attention and corrections before further persual—

Please find the comments for the overall improvement of the manuscript --  

• Line no- 22 to 24- Grammatically incorrect please reframe –
• Line no- 26- were grown in for 21 days--- please correct
• The referencing pattern is not as per the journal—strongly suggested to go through the instructions for the authors and prepare abstract as per the journals format----
• Line no- 65 - fungous diseases – please check—
•  Section 2.1- the fungal pathogens were already established and preserved in the authors associated Lab, suggestion rewrite the paragraph describing the procurement of the fungal pathogen for the assessment against biocontrol potentials  
• How many colonies were picked for the initial assay and what was the broad basis for the selection please include all he details as it is missing ----
• Please provide the details of isolated strain, may be a table showing zone of inhibition in dual culture before that how they narrowed down to a particular strain nothing is clear from the current methodology --- please rework, how authors achieved all and if have tables can be included in the supplementary section-- —
• Section 2.3- the subheading is not correct—please change it does not correspond to identification but shows biopotentials or efficacy---
• Seeds were grown in pot , what type of soil, was it sterilized nothing given , please include all—
• Section 2.7- citation is needed for the support for disease severity index estimation—
• What was the source of the procurement of the cherry tomato, which verity, what was the stage of fruit , ripen or raw nothing is included ---

Author Response

Manuscript number: Agriculture-1258015

MS Type: Article

Title: "Bacillus velezensis WZ-37, a new broad-spectrum biocontrol strain, promotes the growth of tomato seedlings" 

Correspondence Author: Aoxue Wang

Dear Elaine Xu, 

Thank you for your e-mail and the reviewers’comments on our paper entitled " Bacillus velezensis WZ-37, a new broad-spectrum biocontrol strain, promotes the growth of tomato seedlings ". We have revised the manuscript according to your kind advice and reviewers’ detailed suggestion. We sincerely hope the correction will meet with approval on Agriculture.

Best regards

Sincerely yours,

Aoxue Wang 

Please find the following response to the comments of reviewers:

 

Response to Reviewer: 1 

1. Line no- 22 to 24- Grammatically incorrect please reframe –
2. Line no- 26- were grown in for 21 days--- please correct
3. The referencing pattern is not as per the journal—strongly suggested to go through the instructions for the authors and prepare abstract as per the journals format----
4. Line no- 65 - fungous diseases – please check—
5. Section 2.1- the fungal pathogens were already established and preserved in the authors associated Lab, suggestion rewrite the paragraph describing the procurement of the fungal pathogen for the assessment against biocontrol potentials  
6. How many colonies were picked for the initial assay and what was the broad basis for the selection please include all he details as it is missing ----
7. Please provide the details of isolated strain, may be a table showing zone of inhibition in dual culture before that how they narrowed down to a particular strain nothing is clear from the current methodology --- please rework, how authors achieved all and if have tables can be included in the supplementary section-- —
8. Section 2.3- the subheading is not correct—please change it does not correspond to identification but shows biopotentials or efficacy---
9. Seeds were grown in pot , what type of soil, was it sterilized nothing given , please include all—
10. Section 2.7- citation is needed for the support for disease severity index estimation—
11. What was the source of the procurement of the cherry tomato, which verity, what was the stage of fruit, ripen or raw nothing is included ---

Reponse: 

1. We have extensive editing the English language using “Elixigen Co.”(certification-210610-6969).
2. We have extensive editing the English language using “Elixigen Co.”(certification-210610-6969).
3. We have revised all the references accordingto the instruction of Agriculture.
4. Line no- 65, should be fungus disease
5. Fungal pathogens were isolated, identifiedand preserved in the lab. We regularly inoculate fungal pathogens on the host for virulence rejuvenation.
6. 209 strains were obtained from 32 soil sampleby gradient dilution plating method. The strainsafter the initial screening were re-screened by the inhibition zone against B.cinerea.
7. Weadd the information in supplementary section.
8. Change the subheadingof section 2.3 as Biopotential of anti-pathogen strain
9. The tomato seeds were sown in potswith a steril mixture of perlite: vermiculite: soil (1: 2: 6) in the green house.
10. We add the reference [33](Fang 2007).
11. Cherry-tomatoes (S. lycopersium var cerasiformeTS-54) were harvested from a greenhouse at the firm-ripe stage.

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 2 Report

Authors' work concerns very important issue of biocontrol in agriculture. Authors isolated bacterial strain that has a potential as a biocontrol agent preventing disease in Tomato caused by Botrytis cinerea, which has also positive effect on seedling growth.

A major concern for me is language style - multiple grammar errors which need to be revised. Examples are line 18, 84 or table 2 title. Among minor issues I would pointed in line 35 lack of the genus name. 

As I found methods chosen by authors accurate and well described I feel the lack of safety testing of isolated agent - or even some information from other works in the Introduction or the Discussion.

Author Response

Manuscript number: Agriculture-1258015

MS Type: Article

Title: "Bacillus velezensis WZ-37, a new broad-spectrum biocontrol strain, promotes the growth of tomato seedlings" 

Correspondence Author: Aoxue Wang

Dear Elaine Xu, 

Thank you for your e-mail and the reviewers’comments on our paper entitled " Bacillus velezensis WZ-37, a new broad-spectrum biocontrol strain, promotes the growth of tomato seedlings ". We have revised the manuscript according to your kind advice and reviewers’ detailed suggestion. We sincerely hope the correction will meet with approval on Agriculture.

Best regards

Sincerely yours,

Aoxue Wang 

Please find the following response to the comments of reviewers:

Response to Reviewer: 2 

A major concern for me is language style - multiple grammar errors which need to be revised. Examples are line 18, 84 or table 2 title. Among minor issues I would pointed in line 35 lack of the genus name. 

Reponse: 

1. We have proofread the English language using “Elixigen Co.”(certification-210610-6969).
2. We add genus name Botrytisin line 35.

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Round 2

Reviewer 1 Report

The comments and suggestions on the manuscript entitled" Bacillus velezensis WZ-37, a new broad-spectrum biocontrol strain, promotes the growth of tomato seedlings has been well addressed by the authors and I found it satisfactory.

They have worked on the comments and suggestions and positively made all the changes.

Minors suggestion- I guess the Authors have not used the journal's Template format for drafting the manuscript, please see the author guidelines and format your paper in the template provided by the journal. 

Thanks for the revision.

This manuscript is a resubmission of an earlier submission. The following is a list of the peer review reports and author responses from that submission.