Ultraviolet Radiation Management in Greenhouse to Improve Red Lettuce Quality and Yield

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Te authors mainly analysis the quality and yield of lettuce under UV treatment. The results were newly obtained lettuce, but some of them could obtain from other crops. And the manuscript should be improve.

1. The format of manuscript should be adjusted according to the style of the magazine.

2. Line 206, the title of “1 st Experiment” inappropriate. I don’t known what do you mean just according to the title.

3. The root weight and total plant weight were measured at 42 days, why not detected in 49 days?

4. The colour wasn’t measured of UV-block to UVopen ?

5. These compounds could be detected, such as chlorophyll and anthocyanin.

6. 2 nd Experiment?

7. UV-A light can increase beneficial antioxidants such as flavonoids, and phenolic compounds in lettuce, but the UV could inhibit the weight. So, UV So, UV be applied and which intensity is better?

Author Response

Dear Reviewer,

1. We followed the magazine's template.
2. 1 st Experiment was a subtitle. This subtitle was rewritten as: 2.1 Plant Material and Growing Conditions of 1st Experiment
3. Since root weight was not affected by the different intensities of UV radiation, we supposed that the lettuce root weight could not be affected by transfer from UV-block to UV-open greenhouse. However, this was our omission.
4. There was a visible difference in the leaf colour of transferred lettuce compared to these in UV-block greenhouse, but due to few measurements per treatment (10 per treatment), it was not found significant differences. We preferred did not to show these results which could be complicated the meaning of other more clear results
5. We attempted to measure chlorophyll content with a spad meter, but measurements in the same treatments had wide variability, so these measurements are not presented in the current study. During the period the same spad meter was used to measure chlorophyll content in green lettuce and the measurements were replicable. Probably, spad meter is calibrated only for green leaves. Anthocyanin accumulation in plant leaves is affected by blue and UV light, our treatments differed only in UV light. So, we chose to measure the flavonoid which is affected mainly by UV light.
6. 2nd Experiment was a subtitle. This subtitle was rewritten as: 2.2 Plant Material and Growing Conditions of 2nd Experiment
7. This question is replied to in the Discussion of the present study (lines 468-469 of the new version of the manuscript "we can suggest the cultivation of the red lettuces in a UV-block greenhouse and adding 425 kJ m-2 d-1 of supplemental UV-A lighting 10 days prior to harvest. ")
8. The title of the manuscript was written as: Ultraviolet radiation management in greenhouse to improve red lettuce quality and yield. References were repreparedaccording to Quick Reference Formatting Guide – MDPI

All the best

 

Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Reviewer 2 Report

The reviewed article

“UV management in the greenhouse to improve the quality and yield of red lettuce
(Lollo rosso)”

Manuscript is good prepared, and results were discussed with available literature known worldwide.

Title

We should not use abbreviations in the title.

Abstract, Introduction, Material and Methods, Results,  Discussion and Conclusion

Are good composed.

References:

Please prepared references according to Quick Reference Formatting Guide – MDPI:

Bowman, C.M.; Landee, F.A.; Reslock, M.A. Chemically Oriented Storage and Retrieval System. 1. Storage and Verification of Structural Information. J. Chem. Doc. 1967, 7, 43-47; DOI:10.1021/c160024a013.

Minor technical errors are noted in the text.

I recommend this manuscript for publication in the Agriculture after a minor correction.

Best regards

Reviewer

Comments for author File: Comments.pdf

Author Response

Dear Reviewer,

The title of the manuscript was written as: Ultraviolet radiation management in greenhouse to improve red lettuce quality and yield.          

References were repreparedaccording to Quick Reference Formatting Guide – MDPI

All the best

Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Reviewer 3 Report

Dear authors,

please find all comments within the uploaded PDF file.

Comments for author File: Comments.pdf

Author Response

Dear reviewer,

Attached you will find a newer version of the manuscript with appropriate changes.

All the best

Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Reviewer 4 Report

It is a practical study to produce red-lettuce in a greenhouse. I think you are providing accurate data that can be applied to greenhouse.

Have you tried measuring the light transmittance of 2 types of PE film (UV-block and open)? If additives are treated for UV-block, light transmittance may be changed compared to conventional PE films. This is because light transmittance affects the total amount of light to irradiate to the plants.

Comments for author File: Comments.pdf

Author Response

Dear reviewer,

We added a omment in the Introduction: Greenhouse plastic cover materials are sensitive to UV radiation, and their exposure to UV radiation for a long period reduces their durability and transparency in the light. Protective agents are added to the plastic covers to protect them from senescence. These agents expand the used life of the plastic covers; however, reduce their transparency in UV radiation (Dilara and Briassoulis, 2020). Consequently, in the commonly used greenhouse plastic covers transparency in UV radiation is much lower than their transparency in photosynthetically active radiation(PAR).   Moreover, the transparency in UV and PAR radiation of the used polyethylene covers was mentioned in the section Material and Methods as: According to the polyethylene film supplier's laboratory, the transparency of UV-open and UV-block film at PAR was 86.5% and 85% respectively.

All the best

Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Round 2

Reviewer 1 Report

The MS could be accept in present form