Influence of pH on the Growth of Verticillium longisporum and Verticillium Stripe Severity in Canola (Brassica napus)

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

Overall, the work is well-structured, and this contribution should be considered for publication after addressing the following comments.

 

1.     Re-write and organize the abstract, it might be beneficial to mention the potential implications of the findings from this experiment for agriculture or further research in the field of plant pathology, How do environmental factors, such as temperature and moisture, interact with soil pH to modulate the severity of Verticillium stripe in canola crops.

2.     Last part of the introduction. Lines 61-63  must be improved

3.     In section 2. Materials and Methods Line number 68 Cultures were incubated under darkness at room temperature (How much is the temperature please write here.

4.     In section 2. Materials and Methods also write the preparation of 0.072 M HCl or 0.1 M NaOH

5.     R v. 4.2.3 (R Core Team 2013) Please confirm this

6.     In the result section line 154 confirms and corrects The greatest colony diameter was again observed at pH 7.4 (62.0 mm) and 8.6 (60.4 mm) and why the standard deviation is higher for 21 when compared with 14 days

7.     How do these findings contribute to our understanding of the impact of soil pH on Verticillium stripe severity and canola growth?

Author Response

Please kindly find the attachment. Thank you.

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 2 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

Wang and colleagues present a study on the effect of medium pH on  the growth of Verticillium longisporum and on the growth of canola seedlings inoculated with V. longisporum.

It is a pity that only one fungal isolate was tested in this study. It is therefore rather difficult to make a generally valid statement for the impact of pH on on Verticillium longisporum. See also line 240 where the authors state this problem. Even though only one isolate was available, the authors could still have tested it on different varieties of canola  (susceptible, less susceptible, not susceptible to V. longisporum) to gain more information. Thus, the manuscript has the character of a short Communications rather than of a Research article and should be published as such. Therefore, I would suggest to resubmit the manuscript as Communications.

Minor: Please check all references and adapt to the style of the journal, check also journal abbreviations.

Comments on the Quality of English Language

Minor editing of English language required.

Author Response

Please kindly find the attachment. Thank you.

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Round 2

Reviewer 2 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

I am fine with the authors response to my questions.