Degree Days as a Method to Estimate the Optimal Harvest Date of ‘Conference’ Pears

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

This paper determines the optimum harvest index using the sum of active temperatures (SAT) from flowering to harvest of ‘Conference’ pear, as well as determine the base temperature by selecting the temperature that gives the lowest variation of SAT.

 

The work provides useful information collecting from 11 years. The English is adequate. However, the structures of paper especially in methods, result and discussion, figure and tables need some improvements.

 

Materials and methods

-          For weight loss, firmness, TSS, and TA, please clearly explain how score 1, 2, 3 or 4 was given to a sample.

Results and discussion

-          L 215 and 225, No firmness was presented in Table 1

-          Table 2, No description of FR, MD, SD was presented in the footnote.

-          Figure 1, the figure legend states that the data represent the quality of pear after storage in 1999-2006, but in the figure, 2007 to 2017 were labeled on the x-axis. In addition, please clarify in the figure legend the meanings of the numbers 1-4 on the bar graph and the meanings of + and – sign on the x-axis.

 

-          Overall, this section contains literature review rather than the results and the discussion from the current work. It is not clear whether the author is talking about his own results or works of others;  see L 232-235 for example. Thus, writing the results and discussion as separate sections is highly recommended.

-          L 228, what is ‘tables illustrating the starch ....’?

-          L243-246, Please provide some ideas as to why the Sterif index from this study differs from the previous published work.

-          L278, change fruit loss to weight loss

-          L281-286, please rewrite this significant claim and explain clearly how the author concludes that OHD is not limited to one day but refers to a period of at least five days.

L299-306, it is better to perform correlation analysis between AT(average air temperature during vegetation between full bloom) and No (number of days from full bloom until OHD).

Author Response

Detailed answers are in pdf file.

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 2 Report

The manuscript is written with clear understanding of the project addressed, but there are some problems. My specific comments are as follows: 

1、In line 8，please define the CA abbreviations.

2、The abstract is too long. Please use concise language to summarize the abstract of the manuscript. For instance, line 9-10 can be removed.

3、In 2.3.5. Evaluation, what is the basis of score criterion.

4、In table 1, Please indicate M and S in the figure caption.

5、In line 226, Table 1 should be revised as Table 2.

6、The manuscript is lacking in acknowledgments content.

7、There are many problems in the format of the manuscript, please make corrections. Such as in References in line 402, 414-417,421-443, etc.

Author Response

All answers and explanation are in pdf file.

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Round 2

Reviewer 2 Report

This paper has been improved well