Soil Compaction from Wheel Traffic under Three Tillage Systems
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
Dear authors, below are my comments.
The abstract needs major edits. Sentences are not connected. If the field use was under canola, I think it should be included in the title.
Same comment for the rest of the script. Relevant information is missing or is not well written.
I recommend to use numbers or percentage in the sentences but not both of them at the same time. The reader does not have the time to calculate the values. You can put in parenthesis the percentages next to the values. This comment applies to all the studies variables.
How many points inside your plots you samples for each studied parameter?
Use No-tillage, disk and spring tillage instead N, D and ST.
N is commonly use for Nitrogen.
You have enough space in your graphs to use No-tillage, disk and spring tillage without making the graphs busy or crowded.
There are more comments in the script.
Comments for author File: 
Comments.pdf
Author Response
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Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 2 Report
The issue of negative changes in the soil caused by the operation of agricultural machinery, especially compaction and soil erosion, has been of interest to the professional public for a very long time, in most countries of the world. Therefore, there is relatively sufficient knowledge in this area, but it is still not possible to consider this issue as sufficiently resolved with the knowledge strictly applied only at the level of operational practice. The presented article deals with this issue from the point of view of the evaluation of three variants of soil preparation and changes that occur during the subsequent passage of a wheeled tractor. The article contains new findings and therefore can be clearly considered beneficial for scientific and practical purposes.
In Chapter 1, Introduction, the authors explain in an appropriate manner the reasons that led them to the research investigations on which this article is based. They emphasize that there are not many studies that provide information on the consequences of operating wheeled machines (eg tractors) on the surface of differently prepared soil (conventionally - plowing or no-till methods). It is certainly possible to agree with the authors' opinions that the travels of machines on the prepared soil have negative effects on its physical properties. The authors cite the conclusions of several renowned authors who have worked on this issue in the past. The stated goal of the research, ie the implementation of field experiments to study the effect of tractor travel on uncultivated soil (N), soil treated discs (D) and spring soil (ST) on soil properties and population density of cultivated plants is presented in the following article.
Chapter 2 Material and method sufficiently characterizes both the machines with which field experiments were carried out (John Deere 1023e small tractor, disc harrow and spring-tine cultivator). The arrangement of the 15 test plots on which the experiments were performed is described. In my opinion, the number of plots is sufficient to avoid obtaining skewed measurement data. The author's team measured the physical parameters of the soil on the plots (eg soil bulk density, penetration resistance, soil moisture), logically correctly before and after the experiments with soil traction by the tractor. Furthermore, the procedure of sowing areas of rapeseed and care of emerged plants is described in detail. The statistical methods used to evaluate the obtained data are also mentioned. Statistical methods are chosen and used for this purpose. It is obvious that the test plots were traversed in one run of the tractor with a connected four-row seed drill.
Chapter 3 Results and Discussion contains a set of findings obtained during the evaluation of experiments on experimental plots. The authors first evaluate the degree of soil cover with plant residues and present the values ​​of the measured physical parameters of the soil before its preparation. Subsequently, the soil characteristics after the soil preparation are given, both in the text and by suitable graphs. The growth characteristics of rapeseed plants, sown on experimental plots, are also described. Of particular importance is subchapter 3.4, which contains information on the effect of tractor travel (with a seed drill) on soil characteristics and on the growth of rapeseed plants. At the same time, demonstrable changes in the footprints pushed into the soil surface of the tractor wheels were found.
The results of the experiment are given in chap. 5 Conclusion. It is stated here that there are clear differences between the three types of soil preparation (unprepared soil, soil cultivated with discs and soil cultivated with spring-tine cultivator) both in the physical parameters of the soil and in the growth of rapeseed plants. The effect of tractor travel was more pronounced on prepared soil (D and ST) than on unprepared soil (N). However, this fact was to be expected.
I have the following comments on the article:
- It would be appropriate to state why the authors chose for their research precisely the types of soil preparation that are described in the article. Why, for example, is conventional plowing not examined (or is excluded in advance)?
- The authors monitored the development of soil moisture on individual test plots, would it be appropriate to state this?
- It would be appropriate to better (more clearly) state the importance of soil preparation on the growth of the crop in question (rapeseed) and recommend which method of cultivation (soil N, D and ST) is suitable for practical application in the given conditions.
Author Response
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Reviewer 3 Report
Regarding the Manuscript ID: agriculture-1523544, entitled: Soil Compaction from Wheel Traffic Under Three Tillage Systems
The paper seems rally nice and well-structured. It is well written and totally match with the scope of the Journal.
Author Response
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Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
Round 2
Reviewer 1 Report
The manuscript improved a lot.
