Effects of Dietary Phosphorus Deficiency and High Phosphorus Content on the Growth Performance, Serum Variables, and Tibia Development in Goslings
, Lei Chen 2, Haiming Yang 1, Lei Xu 1,* and Zhiyue Wang 1,3
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
Overview and general recommendations:
The work highlighted the importance of P level in the diet on growth performance and bone quality attributes in goslings. The experimental design is sound, and the results are quite convincing. However, I have some comments that can improve the quality of the work.
Comments:
Table 1. Author should clarify the exact levels of NPP in the diet. Is it 0.07, 0.39, 0.77 or 0.08, 0.38, 0.80% as mentioned in the abstract? Similar for Ca, is it 0.76-0.78 or 0.80%?
Line 122: Replace four °C with 4 °C
Line 125-126: Provide full details of ELISA kit manufacturer and product/catalog no. Line 141: Provide product/catalog no of RNA extraction kit.
Table 3-7. No word about the sample size based on which the means and SEM were computed. Please add.
Line 179-180: Serum ALP was increased ‘non-significantly’ in PH compared to PC
Line 248-250: The author should cite many references related to geese instead of broilers.
No mention of Figure A1 and Figure A2 in the result sections. This will make confusion for the readers.
Author Response
Dear editors,
Thank you very much for your critical review of our work " Effects of Dietary Phosphorus Deficiency and High Phosphorus Content on the Growth Performance, Serum Variables, and Tibia Development in Goslings (agriculture-2008093)" submitted to Agriculture. According to your suggestion, we have dealt with the reviewers' comments as follows. Please feel free to inform me if there are still some questions.
With best regards,
Sincerely yours,
Lei Xu, Dr.
College of Animal Science and Technology
Yangzhou University
Yangzhou 225009, China
E-mail: [email protected]
Reviewers' comments:
Reviewer #1:
Comments (Com) 1: Table 1. Author should clarify the exact levels of NPP in the diet. Is it 0.07, 0.39, 0.77 or 0.08, 0.38, 0.80% as mentioned in the abstract? Similar for Ca, is it 0.76-0.78 or 0.80%?
Answer (Ans) 1: Thank you very much for your comments, 0.08%, 0.38%, and 0.80% are the experimental design NPP contents. However, after the final feed samples were taken for determination, the feed NPP content was0.07%, 0.39%, and 0.77%. The difference in calcium content of the diet is also responsible for this. This is something we need to be aware of in the experiment. We have added relevant endorsements. Please see line108 in the revised manuscript.
Com 2: Line 122: Replace four °C with 4 °C.
Ans 2: We have changed four °C to 4 °C. Please see line122 in the revised manuscript.
Com 3: Line 125-126: Provide full details of ELISA kit manufacturer and product/catalog no. Line 141: Provide product/catalog no of RNA extraction kit.
Ans 3: We have added relevant content. Please see lines 128-132, 148-149 in the revised manuscript.
Com 4: Table 3-7. No word about the sample size based on which the means and SEM were computed. Please add.
Ans 4: We have added relevant content. Please see lines 183, 200, 216, 237, and 243 in the revised manuscript.
Com 5: Line 179-180: Serum ALP was increased ‘non-significantly’ in PH compared to PC.
Ans 5: We have modified the results section. Please see lines 191-194 in the revised manuscript.
第6页：第248-250行：作者应该引用许多与鹅而不是肉鸡有关的参考文献。
答 6：我们修改了讨论部分。请参阅修订稿中的第 273-278 行。
第7页：结果部分没有提到图A1和图A2。这会让读者感到困惑。
答 7：图像的选择受到观察者主观因素的影响。我们的目标是用这些图片作为附件来补充磷如何影响胫骨的钙和磷含量。
Author Response File: 
Author Response.docx
Reviewer 2 Report
A great work, it seems to be properly executed. Some points are needed to be adjusted for complete quality as following suggestions;
1. Line 18 adds the sex of geese as “male”.
2. Please check the level of NPP in Table 1. Is it should be 0.08%, 0.38%, and 0.80%, respectively?
3. Author should show the reference source of gosling nutrient requirement (lines 102-103).
4. Why the CP level of 3 experimental diets (Table 1) was not equal?
5. The author should mention the CP level of soybean meal (Table 1). For example “Soybean meal, 45%CP”.
6. “p ≤ 0.05” should be changed to “p<0.05” (lines 172, 184, 199, 219, 224)
7. Please change to “The goslings were fed with a P deficiency (PD) diet, a P control (PC) diet, or high P content (PH) diet” (lines 173-174, 185-186, 200-201, 220-221, 225-226).
8. Check reference No. 13, Du or Li et al.?
9. why was the serum P content reduced in the high-P-content? So, please discuss this point in the 4.2 Serum Variables.
Author Response
Dear editors and reviewers,
Thank you very much for your critical review of our work " Effects of Dietary Phosphorus Deficiency and High Phosphorus Content on the Growth Performance, Serum Variables, and Tibia Development in Goslings (agriculture-2008093)" submitted to Agriculture. According to your suggestion, we have dealt with the reviewers' comments as follows. Please feel free to inform me if there are still some questions.
With best regards
Sincerely yours,
Lei Xu, Dr.
College of Animal Science and Technology
Yangzhou University
Yangzhou 225009, China
E-mail: [email protected]
Reviewers' comments:
Reviewer #2:
Comments (Com) 1: Line 18 adds the sex of geese as “male”.
Answer (Ans) 1: We added the “male” on line 18. Thank you very much for your suggestions!
Com 2: Please check the level of NPP in Table 1. Is it should be 0.08%, 0.38%, and 0.80%, respectively?
Ans 2: Thank you very much for your comments, 0.08%, 0.38%, and 0.80% are the experimental design NPP contents. However, after the final feed samples were taken for determination, the feed NPP content was0.07%, 0.39%, and 0.77%. This is something we need to be aware of in the experiment. We have added relevant endorsements. Please see line108 in the revised manuscript.
Com 3: Author should show the reference source of gosling nutrient requirement (lines 102-103).
Ans 3: The main object of research in our laboratory is geese, and progress has been made in the nutritional needs of geese through many years of research, so the current configuration of our experimental rations is mainly based on published articles. Relevant references were added at line 94 in the revised manuscript.
Com 4: Why the CP level of 3 experimental diets (Table 1) was not equal?
Ans 4: The Ca and P of the feeds were balanced by limestone, vermiculite, and (Ca(H2PO4)2•H2O), respectively. Other ration ingredients, such as soybean meal in equal proportions for each experimental group. We analyzed the data of CP. There is a slight difference between the measured results and the calculated results. We added some feed preparation methods on lines 93-95 in the revised manuscript.
Com 5: The author should mention the CP level of soybean meal (Table 1). For example, “Soybean meal, 45% CP”.
Ans 5: We added the protein ratio of Soybean meal in Table 1. Please see line 107 (Table 1) in the revised manuscript.
Com 6: “p ≤ 0.05” should be changed to “p<0.05” (lines 172, 184, 199, 219, 224)
Ans 6: We have changed the “p ≤ 0.05”to “p<0.05”in lines 180, 197, 213, 234, and 240.
Com 7: Please change to “The goslings were fed with a P deficiency (PD) diet, a P control (PC) diet, or high P content (PH) diet” (lines 173-174, 185-186, 200-201, 220-221, 225-226).
Ans 7: We have changed the original text to “The goslings were fed with a P deficiency (PD) diet, a P control (PC) diet, or high P content (PH) diet” in lines 181-182, 198-199, 214-215, 235-236, and 241-242.
Com 8: Check reference No. 13, Du or Li et al.?
Ans 8: It is our previously published article. Our reference No. 13 in the article is Li et al.. If you have further questions, please address them so we can revise them.
Com 9: why was the serum P content reduced in the high-P-content? So, please discuss this point in the 4.2 Serum Variables.
Ans 9: Thank you, your approval is what keeps us going. Some latest citations were added in the discussion, related references were highlighted in yellow in the reference section. Thank you very much for your suggestions!
Author Response File: Author Response.docx
Reviewer 3 Report
Dear Authors; The study contains important findings. It is nice work. But 14 days is a short time. The results show that; Significant effects were seen at the end of the maternal effect. Therefore, the trial had to continue for a longer period of time. This is an important handicap. In addition, in studies related to live weight, the starting weight is important. It should definitely be given in the article. It would be more accurate to make comparisons according to these data. Why did we use only male goose? The reason should be explained.
The article should be revised in line with these recommendations.
Comments for author File: 
Comments.pdf
Author Response
Dear editors and reviewers,
Thank you very much for your critical review of our work " Effects of Dietary Phosphorus Deficiency and High Phosphorus Content on the Growth Performance, Serum Variables, and Tibia Development in Goslings (agriculture-2008093)" submitted to Agriculture. According to your suggestion, we have dealt with the reviewers' comments as follows. Please feel free to inform me if there are still some questions.
With best regards,
Sincerely yours,
Lei Xu, Dr.
College of Animal Science and Technology
Yangzhou University
Yangzhou 225009, China
E-mail: [email protected]
Reviewers' comments:
Reviewer #3:
Comments (Com) 1: It is not enough to say that they have similar weights. These weights can be given on the basis of groups.
Answer (Ans) 1: We added the initial weight of goslings. Please see table 3 (line 179) in the revised manuscript. Thank you very much for your suggestions!
Com 2: It should be noted that there is a male geese in the abstract section as well.
Ans 2: We added the “male” in line 18 in the revised manuscript.
Com 3: The study contains important findings. It is nice work. But 14 days is a short time. The results show that; Significant effects were seen at the end of the maternal effect. Therefore, the trial had to continue for a longer period of time. This is an important handicap
Ans 3: The number of samples obtained in this experiment was high, with the phosphorus-deficient group having a higher mortality rate of goslings. Continued rearing presented a problem of insufficient sample size; therefore, this experiment was conducted on a 1-14 day-old test cycle. Data on the mortality of test goslings have been added in lines 117, 185 (figure 1), 281-282.
Com 4: Why did we use only male goose? The reason should be explained.
Ans 4: The male and female geese of the Jiangnan White Goose are very different in size, etc. Using all male geese ensures that the physiological condition of the goslings is consistent.
Author Response File: Author Response.docx
Round 2
Reviewer 1 Report
The authors revised the article carefully and I recommended the article to be accepted in its present form.
