Effect of Water Stress on the Yield of Indeterminate-Growth Green Bean Cultivars (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) during the Autumn Cycle in Southern Spain
, Pedro Castro-Valdecantos 1, Noemi Medina-Zurita 1, Alfonso Moriana 1,2,* and Mireia Corell 1,2Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
The current manuscript “Effect of water stress on yield of indeterminate-growth green bean cultivars during the Autumn cycle” by Mheidat et al. deals with findings on the response of vegetative growth and yield to water stress in indeterminate-growth beans. After a careful reading, I found this manuscript interesting, and the results obtained by the authors are novel. However, I have a major concern regarding the English language and the organization/presentation of the results. My specific comments are:
1. Title: the scientific name and botanical authority of green beans must be added. Also, mention the name of country/region.
2. The abstract needs to be rewritten focusing on major numerical findings and the addition of a novelty statement at the end.
3. Poor keyword selection, rewritten them to become more relevant and appealing.
4. The scientific name of green bean is not written appropriately i.e., it should be italicized.
5. Units of the greenhouse area are missing.
6. References are missing for all methods and equations.
7. Picture 1 should be moved to the Results section.
8. Figures: the two figures can be arranged horizontally.
9. Tables: Some information from table captions can be shifted under table footers.
10. The manuscript should be checked for syntax and English errors by a native speaker. They are too many and I can’t mention them all here.
Author Response
Answer Review 1
The current manuscript “Effect of water stress on yield of indeterminate-growth green bean cultivars during the Autumn cycle” by Mheidat et al. deals with findings on the response of vegetative growth and yield to water stress in indeterminate-growth beans. After a careful reading, I found this manuscript interesting, and the results obtained by the authors are novel. However, I have a major concern regarding the English language and the organization/presentation of the results.
Thank you so much for your revision. We have included all your suggestions (please, see below) and we have sent the manuscript for an extensive revision of the English language.
My specific comments are:
- Title: the scientific name and botanical authority of green beans must be added. Also, mention the name of country/region.
We have changed the title and both suggestion have been included.
- The abstract needs to be rewritten focusing on major numerical findings and the addition of a novelty statement at the end.
We have changed the abstract. Please, note that the space in this part of the manuscript is very limited.
- Poor keyword selection, rewritten them to become more relevant and appealing.
We have rewritten this sections
- The scientific name of green bean is not written appropriately i.e., it should be italicized.
Change
- Units of the greenhouse area are missing.
Included
- References are missing for all methods and equations.
We have included the reference. We have considered that some methods such as soil moisture did not need any reference and just with the identification of the equipmen would be enough.
- Picture 1 should be moved to the Results section.
Move
- Figures: the two figures can be arranged horizontally.
Inour opinion they are more clear in the current position.
- Tables: Some information from table captions can be shifted under table footers.
Changed
- The manuscript should be checked for syntax and English errors by a native speaker. They are too many and I can’t mention them all here.
The English is cheked.
Reviewer 2 Report
A word document of this manuscript has been substantially edited with added comments and questions and the authors are requested to respond adequately to my comments
Comments for author File: 
Comments.docx
Author Response
Answer reviewer 2
Thank you so much for your effort in the edition. We have included all your corrections. We have sent the manuscript for an extensive revision of the English language. Please find below specific responds to your comments
.
Abstract. Some sentences of the abstract have been deleted. We have not included “grain yield” because we harvested pod.
Material and methods.
You suggest to change the word “factor” by ”plot and subplot”. However, we think that the correct design is a split plot and this suppose to use a main and secondary factor. We have changed the sentence to include this information.
In our opinion the irrigation scheduling is clear with the supplementary material in which applied water is presented (Figure S3). Therfore, we have include this Figure S3 as Figure 1 and described in this section better than in results section. We have improved the description of RDI.
We have include “in every treatment replicate.” In all measurements.
Results. We have included the period of no irrigation in all figures and increase the size of the symbols.
We have increase the description of the water productivity results.
Conclusions. We have been more specific in the effect on plant development.
Round 2
Reviewer 1 Report
I have no further queries. Accept.
