Chitosan Soaking Improves Seed Germination of Platycodon Grandiflorus and Enhances Its Growth, Photosynthesis, Resistance, Yield, and Quality

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

 The manuscript entitled "Chitosan soaking improves the seed germination of Platycodon grandiflorum and enhances its growth, photosynthesis, resistance, yield and quality" reports the use of Chitosan as a growth enhancer for the plant Platycodon grandifloras. The results showed that the Chitosan soaking of P. grandifloras seeds improved plant growth. Their data were supported by proper growth and biochemical analyses known for plant response and growth. It is mentioned in the article that chitosan is a natural biopolymer with nontoxic, antibacterial, antioxidant, etc. which support this work and the finding.

  

The following points need to be addressed/modified:

1.    Introduction section has long sentences, better to rewrite some parts

2.    Line 160; 0.15% superior 0.05%, 0.10% and 0.25% (instead of 0.15%)

3.    Line 165, 优于, delete it

4.    Reference [43] does not exist in the article, remove it from references or add it to the right place 

5.    Remove the black borders around the figures (1 to 4)

6.    The title of axis Y has a shadow, change it, in all the figures (1 to 4)

 

 

                                                                   

Author Response

Comment 1: The manuscript entitled "Chitosan soaking improves the seed germination of Platycodon grandiflorum and enhances its growth, photosynthesis, resistance, yield and quality" reports the use of Chitosan as a growth enhancer for the plant Platycodon grandifloras. The results showed that the Chitosan soaking of P. grandifloras seeds improved plant growth. Their data were supported by proper growth and biochemical analyses known for plant response and growth. It is mentioned in the article that chitosan is a natural biopolymer with nontoxic, antibacterial, antioxidant, etc. which support this work and the finding.

Response: We sincerely thank the reviewer for the positive comments, careful reviews and warm work to our work! We also sincerely thank you for your hard corrections on our manuscript! Reviewers' comments are extremely constructive and valuable, and very helpful for revising and improving our manuscript, as well as the important guiding significance to our researches. We have studied carefully the reviewers' comments and made substantial revisions which we sincerely hope meet with approval. The responds to the reviewers' comments and the corrections in the revised manuscript are as flows. Thank you most sincerely!

 

Comment 2: 1. Introduction section has long sentences, better to rewrite some parts.

Response: Thanks very much for the reviewer's careful reviews on our manuscript! The long sentences of introduction section has been revised which marked in blue in the revised manuscript. Thank you most sincerely! (See lines 34-40, 59-68, 75-78)

 

Comment 3: 2. Line 160; 0.15% superior 0.05%, 0.10% and 0.25% (instead of 0.15%)

Response: We sincerely thank the reviewer for the careful review and warm work to our manuscript! The corresponding statement has been revised as "superior to that of 0.05%, 0.10%, and 0.25% chitosan treatments" which marked in blue in the revised manuscript. Thank you most sincerely! (See lines 163-164)

 

Comment 4: 3. Line 165, 优于, delete it

Response: We sincerely thank the reviewer for the careful reviews! The "优于" has been deleted. Thank you most sincerely!

 

Comment 5: Reference [43] does not exist in the article, remove it from references or add it to the right place

Response: Thanks very much for the reviewer's careful review to our manuscript! Reference [43] has been added in the right place which marked in blue in the revised manuscript. Thank you most sincerely! (See line 372)

 

Comment 6: 5. Remove the black borders around the figures (1 to 4)

Response: Special thanks to you for your good comments! The corresponding black borders around has been removed in the revised manuscript. Thank you most sincerely! (See line 222, 250, 265, 304)

 

Comment 7: 6. The title of axis Y has a shadow, change it, in all the figures (1 to 4)

Response: Thanks very much for the reviewer's careful reviews and good comment on our manuscript! The corresponding shadow has been removed and changed in the revised manuscript. Thank you most sincerely! (See line 222, 250, 265, 304)

 

We appreciate for reviewer’s warm work earnestly, and hope that the correction will meet with approval. Once again, thank you very much for your comments and suggestions.

Reviewer 2 Report

See the attachment please

Comments for author File: Comments.pdf

Author Response

Comment 1: Principal comment

The manuscript (MS) let down by poor language. This drawback cause the perceived inaccurate and imperfect scientific style throughout all the MS sections preventing the readers to observe the MS novelty and challenging content. I could recommend to the editor that the authors have their paper language edited before resubmission, if applicable.

Response: We sincerely thank the reviewer for the positive comments, careful reviews and warm work to our work! Reviewers' comments are extremely constructive and valuable, and very helpful for revising and improving our manuscript, as well as the important guiding significance to our researches. The English language has been polished by the professionals at the MDPI platform, and English Editing ID is english-51674.We have also studied carefully the reviewers' comments and have substantial revisions which we sincerely hope meet with approval. The responds to the reviewers' comments and the corrections in the revised manuscript are as flows. Thank you most sincerely!

 

Comment 2: The Latin name of the plant is different in parts of the MS:

– "Platycodon grandiflorum " Title, Line 17 and the rest Abstract, 48, 50, 52, etc.

– "Platycodon grandiflorus" Line 14 (Abstract), 34, 45.

Response: Special thanks to you for your good comments and careful reviews! Latin name of the plant has been uniform revised which marked in blue in the revised manuscript.. Thank you most sincerely! (See lines 14, 34, 45)

 

Comment 3: Line 68: the phrase on chemical structure of chitosan should be rewritten taking into account the following. Chitosan is a linear copolymer of ?-(1-4)-2-amido-2-deoxy-D-glucan (glucosamine) and ?-(1-4)-2-acetamido-2-deoxy-D-glucan (acetylglucosamine), i.e. chitosanes are derivatives of chitin with different chitin deacetylation extent.

Response: Special thanks to you for your good comments! The corresponding statement has been revised as "Chitosan, a linear copolymer of β-(1-4)-2-amido-2-deoxy-D-glucan (glucosamine) and β-(1-4)-2-acetamido-2-deoxy-D-glucan (acetylglucosamine), is not toxic to humans or other organisms [18-19]." which marked in blue in the revised manuscript. Thank you most sincerely! (See lines 69-70)

 

Comment 4: Lines 94-95: more accurate deacetylation state and molecular mass characteristics are desirable to be mentioned in Materials and Methods section.

Response: We sincerely thank the reviewer for the careful reviews! The reviewers' comments are extremely constructive and valuable. The corresponding statement has been revised as "Chitosan with the deacetylation of 90.00% and the molecular weight of 50 KDa was provided by Mingrui Bioengineering Co. Ltd. (Henan, China)." which marked in blue in the revised manuscript. Thank you most sincerely! (See lines 95-96)

 

Comment 5: - Line 169: in the note to Table 2, "were represented by small letters" should be extended to point out to "different letters", as well as "compared to (control?)".

Response: Thanks very much for the reviewer's good advice to our manuscript! "The significant differences of 5 % level (p < 0.05) were represented by small letters" has been revised as "The significant differences of 5 % level (p < 0.05) in six treatments were represented by different letters". which marked in blue in the revised manuscript. Thank you most sincerely! (See lines 171-172, 187-188, 204-205, 244-245, 252-253, 267-268, 287-288, 306-307)

 

Comment 6: The same is for Line 184 at Table 3; Line 201 at Table 4; Line 222 at Figure 1 (sense of different double letters to be mentioned); Line 248 at Figure 2; Line 263 at Figure 3; Line 300 at Figure 4.

Response: Thanks very much for the reviewer's good advice to our manuscript! The corresponding statements have been revised which marked in blue in the revised manuscript. Thank you most sincerely! (See lines 171-172, 187-188, 204-205, 244-245, 252-253, 267-268, 287-288, 306-307)

 

We appreciate for reviewer’s warm work earnestly, and hope that the correction will meet with approval. Once again, thank you very much for your comments and suggestions.

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf