Effect of Biofertilizers on Broccoli Yield and Soil Quality Indicators

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

 

Review

In the manuscript titled "The combined effect of reducing mineral fertilization and adding biofertilizers on broccoli yield, soil microbial abundance and activity, and greenhouse gas emissions." is interesting. In my opinion, the relevance of the issues undertaken in the research results from current problems related to greenhouse gas emissions, the use of biopreparations, and the reduction and limitation of mineral fertilization. The disadvantage of this manuscript is the fact that the research was conducted for only one year, which reduces the reliability of the results obtained. In my opinion, such research should be conducted for at least two growing seasons in order to eliminate variable factors prevailing during the growing season in subsequent years. The authors undertook a very broad research goal. In my opinion, the methodology was described in quite detail - good. In my opinion, the authors should improve the figures to improve their readability and facilitate understanding. The conclusions should be reworded to make the results more visible.

Some of the cited literature requires correction - it is out of date. Below is an example.

WRB, IUSS World Reference Base for Soil Resources 2014, Update 2015 International Soil Classification System for  Naming Soils and Creating Legends for Soil Maps. World Soil Resources Reports No. 106. FAO, Rome; 2015; ISBN 978- 92-5-108370-3.

It should be quoted as below:

IUSS Working Group WRB. 2022. World Reference Base for Soil Resources. International soil classification system for naming soils and creating legends for soil maps. 4th edition. International Union of Soil Sciences (IUSS), Vienna, Austria.

Author Response

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Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 2 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

L182 identical

L182-183 foliar application, I guess

L303-305 what is the omega?

L370 the legend for table 1 must be fixed

L379 remove ‘which’

L460 change to ‘slight’

L493-495 the sentence should be removed, as is doubled

L505 add ‘… events in previous …’

L520 the latin name in italics

L572, 581 the latin name in italics

Author Response

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Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 3 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

The manuscript titled " The combined effect of reducing mineral fertilization and adding biofertilizers on broccoli yield, soil microbial abundance and activity, and greenhouse gas emissions." contains interesting research results for agricultural science and practice. The research is multi-faceted, which I appreciate. However, the text of the manuscript must be corrected.
I included detailed comments in the original text - pdf.
After making comments, I recommend publishing the manuscript in the journal Horticulturae.

General notes:

The title of the manuscript can be made more specific
In the Abstract, write what are your recommendations for agricultural practice
Add to keywords: Brassica oleracea var italica Plenck; nutrients;
The material and methods section requires the most corrections
Write and complete a thorough analysis of soil conditions before setting up a field experiment
Was this a one-year field experiment?
What was the forecrop?
Write the trade name of biofertilizers and chemical composition from the product label
Add a table or figure with weather data
Correct the records of oxide forms of elements
Correct the text with tables in the supplementary materials, Apendix
Figure 1 is not very legible but ok
Correct the description of table 1
Check the statistical calculations in table 1
This is definitely standard error or maybe standard deviation. These are two different results.
Write the Latin names of species in italics
Table 8 may be better included in the main text and described in detail. Make statistical calculations for table 8
Correct the reference list

Other comments in the text


I hope that my comments will help the authors improve the text of the manuscript. Thank you for your cooperation

Comments for author File: Comments.pdf

Author Response

please see the attachment

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf