Phenolic and Total Flavonoid Contents and Physicochemical Traits of Romanian Monofloral Honeys
, Daniel Simeanu 1, Cristina-Gabriela Radu-Rusu 1 and Ioan Mircea Pop 1
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
Dear Authors,
Your manuscript entitled “Phenolic, total flavonoid contents and physicochemical traits of Romanian monofloral honey” contributes with new data to the characterization of honeys. Unfortunately, I regret to say that the English grammar is extremely poor, and it needs an exhaustive revision. Many paragraphs are incomprehensible. I highlight some mistakes or errors as example:
Title: It reads “honey”, but it must be “honeys” (they are different unifloral honeys). The same for the abstract.
Line 22: increased instead of increase; has instead of have.
Line 23: “created for Romania” is a bizarre expression.
Line 32: “appreciate the quality of honey as color…..”. It is a wrong grammar.
Line 33: “light color honey others dark color honey”. It is redundant.
Line 34: healthy died????
Lines 36, 37: The antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, antioxidative activity of honey are properties that have been recognized their beneficial effects……Grammar must be revised.
Line 71: The apparatus is repeated.
Line 129: results of total phenols or total flavonoids? The same for line 136.
In general, the discussion is difficult to understand because of the writing, authors use wrong prepositions and verbs.
Author Response
Title: It reads “honey”, but it must be “honeys” (they are different unifloral honeys). The same for the abstract.
Answer: changed ”honey” into ”honeys” both in title and abstract
Line 22: increased instead of increase; has instead of have.
Answer: Adjusted as recommended. Thank you!
Line 23: “created for Romania” is a bizarre expression.
Answer: rephrased as: The variety of melliferous flora in Romania provides the possibility of producing many types of honey. Thank you!
Line 32: “appreciate the quality of honey as color…..”. It is a wrong grammar.
Answer. Rephrased as: The price and purchase frequency of honey depends on some traits that consumers seek in perceiving the quality of honey, such as: color, texture
Line 33: “light color honey others dark color honey”. It is redundant.
Answer. Removed the sentence. Thank you!
Line 34: healthy died????
Answer. Replaced died by diet and rephrased to sound better. Thank you!
Lines 36, 37: The antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, antioxidative activity of honey
are properties that have been recognized their beneficial effects……Grammar must be revised.
Answer: rephrased as .... ”that have been recognized for their beneficial effects on the human body”. Thank you!
Line 71: The apparatus is repeated.
Answer: rephrased as ”The color of honey samples was determined using the Shimadzu UV-1700 Pharma Spec instrument (manufacturer: Shimadzu Corporation, Analytical Instruments Division, Kyoto, Japan).” Thank you!
Line 129: results of total phenols or total flavonoids? The same for line 136.
Answer: Total phenols and Total flavonoids are two separated traits. So, it is correct as in the paper. However, we rephrased as: ”The same honey alcoholic solution was used to assess the total flavonoids content.” Thank you!
In general, the discussion is difficult to understand because of the writing, authors use wrong prepositions and verbs.
Answer. We run a thorough checkup and adjusted the grammar and writing style. Thank you!
Reviewer 2 Report
Manuscript presented for review with title: “Phenolic, total flavonoid contents and physicochemical traits of Romanian monofloral honey” is really interesting and very important..
Presented manuscript is on good scientific level and represent a good scientific value manuscript.
The Abstract. Authors give a short presentation of manuscript. In my opinion, not only aim and main results should be presented in Summary section. Please add 2-3 sentences about literature of problem.
Introduction section.
The Introduction section includes all necessary information about examined objects and problems. Formatted aim are good present at the end of Introductions' section. The problem described in manuscript is a new and represent sensory evaluation and chemical parameters of different honey samples.
Materials and method section
Page 2, line 63: please specify how many jars, kg, or liters of honey were purchase per one experimental combination. Please add this information to manuscript text.
Results.
Tables presented in manuscript text are good constructed and well presented. I have some question to Figures 2 and 3: please add statistical tools (homogenous groups and p-values) as declare in Statistical section.
The discussion section presents a good comparison of the obtained results with other results available in the data basis.
Presented conclusions are corresponding with all information presented via Authors’ in manuscript text.
General opinion: After carefully manuscript reading, I think, that presented manuscript is a very valuable. Topic presented in manuscript is more suitable to Foods journal or Antioxidants journal, both from MDPI group.
Author Response
Manuscript presented for review with title: “Phenolic, total flavonoid contents and physicochemical traits of Romanian monofloral honey” is really interesting and very important..
Answer: Thank you!
Presented manuscript is on good scientific level and represent a good scientific value manuscript.
Answer: Thank you!
The Abstract. Authors give a short presentation of manuscript. In my opinion, not only aim and main results should be presented in Summary section. Please add 2-3 sentences about literature of problem.
Answer: thank you, we adjusted the abstract with some of the literature context.
Introduction section.
The Introduction section includes all necessary information about examined objects and problems. Formatted aim are good present at the end of Introductions' section. The problem described in manuscript is a new and represent sensory evaluation and chemical parameters of different honey samples.
Answer: Thank you!
Materials and method section
Page 2, line 63: please specify how many jars, kg, or liters of honey were purchase per one experimental combination. Please add this information to manuscript text.
Answer: we specified, based on your suggestion that each sample was taken out from an individual 400 ml jar (0,5 kg of honey/jar)
Results.
Tables presented in manuscript text are good constructed and well presented. I have some question to Figures 2 and 3: please add statistical tools (homogenous groups and p-values) as declare in Statistical section.
Answer: All statistical descriptors (mean, standard deviation, coefficient of variation CV - depicting homogeneity) as well as p Values issued from one to one comparisons are thoroughly presented in tables 1 & 2. However, we added p values on fig. 2 & 3, due to your suggestion. Thank you!
The discussion section presents a good comparison of the obtained results with other results available in the data basis.
Answer: Thank you!
Presented conclusions are corresponding with all information presented via Authors’ in manuscript text.
Answer: Thank you!
General opinion: After carefully manuscript reading, I think, that presented manuscript is a very valuable. Topic presented in manuscript is more suitable to Foods journal or Antioxidants journal, both from MDPI group.
Answer: Thank you! We decided to publish in this special issue of Agriculture journal because we belong to an Animal Sciences department and most of the research was carried on within this context and using the subsequent infrastructure of the Animal Sciences Faculty.
Reviewer 3 Report
The manuscript under appreciation is about the study of several quality parameters of Romanian monofloral honey and establishing correlations between total phenolic and flavonoid contents with the quality parameters.
The manuscript is interesting, and the results are important. However, there are several points that must be addressed, and explanations should be added to the manuscript.
Introduction:
Although the introduction provides sufficient scientific background, the novelty of the study is not yet clearly presented. The authors must provide more information about the novelty of this study.
Materials and Methods:
How did the authors confirm the monofloral origin of the honey samples without performing melisopalynological analysis?
The phrase in lines 71-72 “The color of honey samples was determined using the Shimadzu f honey samples was measured …..” does not make sense. Please revise.
Please add relevant references for the total phenols and flavonoid content.
Discussion:
In correlations between honey parameters, the authors report strong correlations of moisture content with four parameters. Can the authors explain/justify these results?
Line 340: Which compounds of honey are pigments with antioxidant properties? Are these compounds somehow related to total phenols and flavonoid content determined in this study?
Conclusion: This section needs improving with the findings of this study. The last phrase does not make sense. Please revise.
Author Response
The manuscript under appreciation is about the study of several quality parameters of Romanian monofloral honey and establishing correlations between total phenolic and flavonoid contents with the quality parameters.
The manuscript is interesting, and the results are important. However, there are several points that must be addressed, and explanations should be added to the manuscript.
Answer: Thank you... we proceed to comply your recommendations.
Introduction:
Although the introduction provides sufficient scientific background, the novelty of the study is not yet clearly presented. The authors must provide more information about the novelty of this study.
Answer: we rephrased the end of the Introduction section as here: ”The therapeutic qualities of honey issued from different geographic regions and in particular the antioxidant features are recently studied (especially the polyphenolic and flavonoids compounds). Within this conjuncture, our study brings forth new data on the total phenolic and total flavonoids contents, as well as their correlations with several qualitative parameters from raw honey collected from Eastern part of Romania throughout 2019.” Thank you!
Materials and Methods:
How did the authors confirm the monofloral origin of the honey samples without performing melisopalynological analysis?
Answer: the monofloral origin was declared by the producers basing on the floral massifs they harvested and also checked by the company that collects honey from individual beekeepers, using palinological identification. We modified the text in material and methods as following: ”The botanical origin was declared by beekeepers basing on the floral massifs the bees have harvested during the flowering period of the year for each botanical species. Thereafter, the company that purchased honey from beekeepers applied melisopalinilogical methods in order to certify the floral origin, prior to its processing and marketing.” Thank you!
The phrase in lines 71-72 “The color of honey samples was determined using the Shimadzu f honey samples was measured …..” does not make sense. Please revise.
Answer: Sorry for such a mistake, we rephrased as ”The color of honey samples was determined using the Shimadzu UV-1700 Pharma Spec instrument (manufacturer: Shimadzu Corporation, Analytical Instruments Division, Kyoto, Japan). ” Now the lines are numbered 81-83, due to multiple adjustments. Thank you!
Please add relevant references for the total phenols and flavonoid content.
Answer: such relevant reference are presented in Table 4 and they were selected on certain criteria, such as bee specie (Apis melifera), types of honey, studies that have been run in European countries with quite similar climatic specificities, similar analytical methods and reference substances (Galic acid and Quercetine). All these elements were considered relevant when comparing the quality of assessed Romanian samples with other authors' findings. Thank you!
Discussion:
In correlations between honey parameters, the authors report strong correlations of moisture content with four parameters. Can the authors explain/justify these results?
Answer:
Negative correlations –Those 4 correlations occur naturally, due to the physical properties... of honey and of other fluids.
Correlation Moisture – Refractive index (RI). RI of water is 1,33. More water in honey, Refractive index decreases, the law of refraction of light.
Correlation Moisture - solid substances (SS) . 100 g honey, in general has 81-82% solid substance and the rest is water. More moisture, the content of SS is lower, the same is for total soluble substances (TSS).
Correlation Water content - Density. Honey is more viscous due to the Wan de Waals forces of attraction between the biggest particles of honey, belonging to Solid Substances. Higher water content leads to lower honey density.
Line 340: Which compounds of honey are pigments with antioxidant properties? Are these compounds somehow related to total phenols and flavonoid content determined in this study?
Answer: Mostly carotenoids. We rephrased such as following> "It is known that pigments give the hue color of honey and especially those pigments with antioxidant properties, such as carotenoids. Many studies showed tight correlations between color intensity and antioxidant compounds." Thank you!
Conclusion: This section needs improving with the findings of this study. The last phrase does not make sense. Please revise.
Answer: We did not put values in conclusions, in order to avoid redundant data. Also, we corrected the last conclusion. It was a non-sense, sorry for the mistake. Thank you kindly for all suggestions!
Round 2
Reviewer 1 Report
Dear Authors,
Even having improving the text, I believe a professional English grammar revision of the manuscript is needed.
For instance I have detected some grammar errors:
Line 17: Pearson test shown instead of Pearson test has shown
Line 106: The term massifs is difficult to understand in this context
and many more throughout the text.
Author Response
For instance I have detected some grammar errors:
Line 17: Pearson test shown instead of Pearson test has shown
Line 106: The term massifs is difficult to understand in this context
and many more throughout the text.
Answer: Thank you for the suggestions. We passed through the entire text for the English revision. Thank you indeed!
