Temporal and Spatial Positioning of Service Crops in Cereals Affects Yield and Weed Control

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Intercropping is used in many countries. It has many advantages and it allows for more efficient use of environmental resources. The effectiveness of intercropping, depends on many factors, one of which is the proper selection of crop species and their distribution. It is preferable to introduce legumes into this system because of their ability to assimilate atmospheric nitrogen. Therefore, I think that the problem raised in the research is interesting.

Manuscript is generally well written. The 'Introduction' chapter is sufficiently large, introduces the topic and justifies the studies presented in the paper. Experiment is arranged properly, the experimental material is sufficient. The results are clearly presented. Tables and figures are adequate.

In my opinion manuscript is well prepared and requires only minor changes:

1.      It is worth changing the order of keywords, i.e. cropping system first,

2.      Please correct the notation of the units in the graphs, e.g. g m^-2, not g/m².

3.      The authors did not find any significant influence of the studied factors on the weed biomass. As they stated ‘…due to the large variation in weed biomass between plots no significant differences were observed’. Therefore, in the case of features with a very large variety before analyzing the variance, it is necessary to check whether the variables are normally distributed. If necessary, apply a log or square transform and only then perform the analysis of variance. Have the authors checked the normality of the distribution?

4.      Table S1.1 - The content of mineral nitrogen and assimilable P and K should be given in mg kg^-1. Total carbon in g kg^-1. Enter a unit for: clay, silt, sand. depth 60-100 or 60-90? In the text of the manuscript (line 248) is 0-30, 30-60, 60-90?

5.      Table S1.2 - experiment sites should be marked as in other tables, i.e. OG and SK

Author Response

Please see attachment

Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Reviewer 2 Report

GENERAL COMMENTS

The manuscript entitled “Temporal and spatial positioning of service crops in cereals affects yield and weed control” is a well-written and very interesting research paper involving four field experiments, conducted in northern Europe, with the aim of evaluating the impact of different legume cover crop mixtures and intercropping systems on the productive performances and weed suppressive ability in spring oat and winter wheat. The topic is of high importance and interest in the view of agroecosystem sustainability, especially considering the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the strategies of the European Commission (EC) Green Deal, which I invite to consider in the introduction. The subject of the manuscript falls with the general scope of the Journal and provides interesting findings for the scientific community. I suggest the publication after incorporating some comments and suggestions.

In general:

·       I understand the large amount of data considered, but the effects on weeds would be much more potent if considering the analysis of species composition (at least richness and some biodiversity indices)

·       In my opinion, 73 references for a research papers are too much, mainly considering that most of them are quite outdated. I suggest reducing the total number and changing some ones

·    I understand too the complexity of this research, involving different ecosystem services and thus requiring a large amount of comments to explain the obtained results. However, I think that the discussion may be more efficient if reduced by 10-20% the length of text.

 

TITLE and KEYWORDS: appropriate.

           

ABSTRACT:

·       lines 17-20: please explain better the goals of this research, specifying the factors and the treatments under study

·       line 23: what was the control?

·       line 26: in which case oat yields were reduced by 15 %?

·       line 28: potential for what?

·       please improve the practical applications of this research

 

INTRODUCTION:

·       overall, this section provides an appropriate background for readers

·       following my previous comment on references, I suggest summarising these effects with works including multi-service effects. See for instance this recent research: “Trifolium subterraneum cover cropping enhances soil fertility and weed seedbank dynamics in a Mediterranean apricot orchard”. Agron. Sustain. Dev. 41, 70 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13593-021-00721-z

·       line 61: please provide a valid and synthetic definition of intercropping

·       line 63: not only direct competition for water, light and nutrients, but also “pre-emptive competition”

·       lines 82-83: I think that the last sentence could be deleted

 

M&M: overall, thanks also to the help of supplementary materials, are complete and well-exposed.

·       Figure 1: please improve the quality and resolution or increase the size, since it is hard in reading

·       line 122: please add the total number of plots and the total experimental area in each location

·       lines 154-157: after the first appearance, please delete the taxonomist “L.” for Trifolium species

·       line 226: are reported

·       line 235: please specify the

·       line 266: how did you test normality and homogeneity of variance? Please specify it

 

RESULTS and DISCUSSION: results are well exposed (also with the support of supplementary materials) and the discussion section is very rich of explanations and speculations, incorporating a wide literature.

Author Response

Please see attachment

Author Response File: Author Response.docx