The Beneficial Effects of Insect Pollination and Biochar Seed Coating on Okra (Abelmoschus esculentus) Seed Quality at Varying Temperature Conditions

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

The manuscript entitled "The beneficial effect of insect pollination and biochar seed coating on okra (Abelmoschus esculenta) seed quality at varying temperature conditions" written by Dolapo Bola Adelabu and Angelinus C Franke deals with the actual topic and brings novelty about the possibilities of promoting okra production by appropriate seed treatment. The authors demonstrated a high level of scientific work and presented a comprehensive research in the manuscript. The manuscript contains all the necessary chapters. The importance of the research is clearly explained in the introduction. The material and methods could be described more thoroughly. The results are presented clearly, but discussion is poor. The most important findings of the research are summarized in the conclusion. I have some well-meaning comments about the manuscript that could increase its quality and develop some ideas:

1. I recommend correcting "Esculenta" to "esculentus" in the title of the manuscript.

2. A more detailed description of the authors' workplace is lacking.

3. I recommend checking the text carefully, there are a number of extra spaces, missing spaces and missing full stops at the end of sentences.

4. Chapter 2.1: experimental design could be supported by citations.

5. In the methodology, I recommend checking the formation of the formulas.

6. Chapter 2.2: experimental design could be supported by citations.

7. In the manuscript, I recommend using table numbering in logical order.

8. I regret to say that the results achieved are, in my opinion, poorly discussed, as evidenced by the relatively low number of literature sources in references list. I recommend extending the discussion for all monitored parameters.

9. There is a different formation for expressing temperature units in the text, I recommend correcting this.

Author Response

Correction to the Reviewers’ comments

The authors appreciate all the constructive suggestions, recommendations, and comments given to this manuscript, we have considered all suggestions and revised the manuscript accordingly.

Reviewer 1

The materials and methods section has been described thoroughly. Also, the results and discussion section are presented clearly. We have taken into account each of the well-meaning comments for the manuscript.

Comment1: I recommend correcting "Esculenta" to "esculentus" in the title of the manuscript.

Correction 1: thanks to the reviewer, It has been change from "Esculenta" to "esculentus" in the title

Comment 2: A more detailed description of the authors' workplace is lacking.

Correction 2: This has been included in “lines 90-91” of the materials and methods section.

Comment 3: I recommend checking the text carefully, there are a number of extra spaces, missing spaces and missing full stops at the end of sentences.

Correction 3: We appreciate the reviewer observation, we have cross checked the manuscript for extra and missing spaces as well as missing punctuation marks.

Comment 4: Chapter 2.1: experimental design could be supported by citations.

Correction 4: Thanks, we have included the citation.

Comment 5:  In the methodology, I recommend checking the formation of the formulas.

Correction 5: We have corrected it. Thanks.

Comment 6: Chapter 2.2: experimental design could be supported by citations.

Correction 6: The experimental design has been supported by a citation.

Comment 7:  In the manuscript, I recommend using table numbering in logical order.

Comment 7: We thank the reviewer, the tables have been numbered accordingly.

Comment 8: I regret to say that the results achieved are, in my opinion, poorly discussed, as evidenced by the relatively low number of literature sources in the references list. I recommend extending the discussion to all monitored parameters.

Correction 8: The results and discussion section have been improved with suitable citations.

Comment 9: There is a different formation for expressing temperature units in the text, I recommend correcting this.

Correction 9: The temperature units have been corrected.

Reviewer 2 Report

The article "The beneficial effect of insect pollination and biochar seed coating on okra (Abelmoschus esculenta) seed quality at varying temperature conditions" is well written and organized but few changes are required:

1) Objective of the study should be clearly mentioned in the introduction section. What is the novelty of the work and why do we want to study this?

2) This is recommended that please use the lettering on all data in the tables and also present the significance of parameters in the table.

3) I would recommend analyzing the data in person correlation of heat map correlation along with principal component analysis (PCA). 

4) The discussion needs to be more extensive. The author just don't say my results are in line with previous study. Authors must answer the question why?

5) Try to add more references in your study related to field "https://doi.org/10.3390/agriculture11121254 ; https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-8625-1_6 ; https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-8625-1_18

   

Author Response

Correction to the Reviewers’ comments

The authors appreciate all the constructive suggestions, recommendations and comments given to this manuscript, we have considered all suggestions and revised the manuscript accordingly.

Response to Reviewer 2 comments

The article "The beneficial effect of insect pollination and biochar seed coating on okra (Abelmoschus esculenta) seed quality at varying temperature conditions" is well written and organized but few changes are required:

Comment 1) Objective of the study should be clearly mentioned in the introduction section. What is the novelty of the work and why do we want to study this?

Correction 1) The objective has been clearly written, as well as the novelty of the work now on “lines 77-78” and “lines 83-85”

Comment 2) This is recommended that please use the lettering on all data in the tables and also present the significance of parameters in the table.

Correction 2) Thanks to the reviewer, we have corrected it, all the data with significant levels have subscript lettering as well as the significance values represented in bold in all the tables.

Comment 3) I would recommend analyzing the data in person correlation of heat map correlation along with principal component analysis (PCA).

Correction 3) We have analyzed the data using Pearson correlation and Principal component analysis. We appreciate this recommendation. 

Comment 4) The discussion needs to be more extensive. The author just don't say my results are in line with previous study. Authors must answer the question why?

Correction 4) We have worked on the discussion extensively and justified it with literature references where applicable.

Comment 5) Try to add more references in your study related to field "https://doi.org/10.3390/agriculture11121254 ; https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-8625-1_6 ; https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-8625-1_18

Correction 5) Thanks to the reviewer, we have included more references related to the discussion.

Round 2

Reviewer 1 Report

The manuscript entitled "The beneficial effect of insect pollination and biochar seed coating on okra (Abelmoschus esculenta) seed quality at varying temperature conditions" written by Dolapo Bola Adelabu and Angelinus C Franke is currently processed in accordance with the scope of MDPI Agriculture. The authors have incorporated all of my well-meaning comments from the first review report. I recommend the manuscript for publication.

Reviewer 2 Report

Tha author addresses all my comments properly. The article is fit for publication in this journal.