A Survey of Key Methods, Traits, Parameters, and Conditions for Measuring Texture in Cranberry (Vaccinium macrocarpon Ait.)
, Jyostna Mura 4, Shinya Ikeda 5, Amaya Atucha 1, Lara Giongo 6, Massimo Iorizzo 7 and Juan Zalapa 1,4,*
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
Please, do revise and correct your article accordingly:
1- Abstract should be revise, the English language of the Abstract is not clear, try to use different words and make it more attractive for readers.
2- Materials and methods has written very good and it does not need any changes, the same as Introduction.
3- The quality of presented Figures are OK, and they do not need any changes.
4- Why does not your article have any CONCLUSION? The conclusion part is an important part of both Research and Review articles.
5- In some parts of the manuscript, the format of your article is not clear, and it is not on the basis of journal s format.
6- The number of References are not enough at all. The authors just have used 20 references. Although, the Result part has written very well, but the discussion part is not clear at all.
7- Check Reference 21 (after 20)?
8- All the format of References should be double checked.
After these corrections, your article can be accepted for publication.
Author Response
REVIEWER 1
Please, do revise and correct your article accordingly:
1- Abstract should be revise, the English language of the Abstract is not clear, try to use different words and make it more attractive for readers.
Thank you for the comment. We improved the abstract for clarity
2- Materials and methods has written very good and it does not need any changes, the same as Introduction.
Thank you!
3- The quality of presented Figures are OK, and they do not need any changes.
Thank you!
4- Why does not your article have any CONCLUSION? The conclusion part is an important part of both Research and Review articles.
Thank you for the observation. The conclusion was already added in the new document
5- In some parts of the manuscript, the format of your article is not clear, and it is not on the basis of journal s format.
The format was reviewed and modified for a new version of the manuscript.
6- The number of References are not enough at all. The authors just have used 20 references. Although, the Result part has written very well, but the discussion part is not clear at all.
More references relevant to the topic were added and the number of citations increased from 21 to 40. The discussion section was improved by adding more citations, expanding the discussion of the results, and modifying the wording of some texts to make them clearer.
7- Check Reference 21 (after 20)?
The error was corrected although the number and order of the citations changed because more references were added in the new version of the document.
8- All the format of References should be double checked.
All references were checked again and some changes were made, especially for the following references:
Kramer, J.; Simnitt, S.; Calvin, L. Fruit and Tree Nuts Outlook; U.S. Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service: Washington D.C., WA, USA, 2020; pp. 1-45.
Bourne, M. Food Texture and Viscosity: Concept and Measurement, 2nd ed.; Academic Press: Cambridge, MA, USA, 2002; pp. 1-32. ISBN 9780080491332.
Johnson, K.L. Contact Mechanics, 1st ed.; Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, UK, 1987. ISBN 978-0-521-34796-9.
No. S368.2; ASAE Standards. Compression Test of Food Materials of Convex Shape. American Society for Agricultural Engineering: St. Joseph, MI, 1998.
After these corrections, your article can be accepted for publication.
Reviewer 2 Report
Overall, the scientific content of the manuscript is good and valuable, but I would recommend some improvements.
1. In the introduction, list the main health benefits of cranberry fruit.
2. Expand the bibliography on the subject of cranberry texture, e.g. with:
a) Liu, ZL., Staniszewska, I., Zielinska, D. et al. Combined Hot Air and Microwave-Vacuum Drying of Cranberries: Effects of Pretreatments and Pulsed Vacuum Osmotic Dehydration on Drying Kinetics and Physicochemical Properties. Food Bioprocess Technol .13, 1848–1856 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11947-020-02507-9
b) Gorzelany, J.; Belcar, J.; Kuźniar, P.; Niedbała, G.; Pentoś, K. Modelling of Mechanical Properties of Fresh and Stored Fruit of Large Cranberry Using Multiple Linear Regression and Machine Learning. Agriculture 2022, 12, 200. https://doi.org/10.3390/agriculture12020200
c) Kovacev, K.; Hughes, B.; Smith, S.J. Polyphenol stability and physical characteristics of sweetened dried cranberries. Foods 2020, 9, 551; doi:10.3390/foods9050551
3. After the discussion, introduce a point containing conclusions concisely presenting the results obtained.
Author Response
REVIEWER 2
Overall, the scientific content of the manuscript is good and valuable, but I would recommend some improvements.
- In the introduction, list the main health benefits of cranberry fruit.
The list of health benefits of cranberry fruits was added, especially with information from references 5-8
- Expand the bibliography on the subject of cranberry texture, e.g. with:
- a) Liu, ZL., Staniszewska, I., Zielinska, D. et al. Combined Hot Air and Microwave-Vacuum Drying of Cranberries: Effects of Pretreatments and Pulsed Vacuum Osmotic Dehydration on Drying Kinetics and Physicochemical Properties. Food Bioprocess Technol .13, 1848–1856 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11947-020-02507-9
- b) Gorzelany, J.; Belcar, J.; Kuźniar, P.; Niedbała, G.; Pentoś, K. Modelling of Mechanical Properties of Fresh and Stored Fruit of Large Cranberry Using Multiple Linear Regression and Machine Learning. Agriculture 2022, 12, 200. https://doi.org/10.3390/agriculture12020200
- c) Kovacev, K.; Hughes, B.; Smith, S.J. Polyphenol stability and physical characteristics of sweetened dried cranberries. Foods 2020, 9, 551; doi:10.3390/foods9050551
More relevant citations for the topic were added, increasing the number of references from 21 to 40, including the references suggested by the reviewer.
- After the discussion, introduce a point containing conclusions concisely presenting the results obtained.
The conclusion section was added in the new version of the document.
Reviewer 3 Report
In the manuscript that was submitted by Juan Zalapa and colleagues and titled "A survey of key methods, traits, parameters, and conditions for measuring texture in cranberry (Vaccinium macrocarpon Ait.)" the authors study key methodologies, texture attributes, parameters, and conditions that are required for effectively and precisely measuring texture in cranberry fruit. The writing is really good overall; nevertheless, the researchers need to provide further data to support their study in order to have it considered acceptable. The current manuscript is in line with the aims and purposes of the Horticulturae journal, as well as with the scope of the publishing.
1. The authors need to provide an explanation for the speed tests that are currently being used. Was there any sort of preliminary experiment done in to determine the parameters for these speed measurements? For example, I'll begin with 20 mm per second (max speed).
2. Have they found any methodologies that are either non-destructive or semi-destructive that can be used to obtain repeat measurements of the firmness over time?
3. Are you able to provide a definition for the elastic and/or plastic deformation that fruit undergoes when compressed?
Author Response
REVIEWER 3
- The authors need to provide an explanation for the speed tests that are currently being used. Was there any sort of preliminary experiment done in to determine the parameters for these speed measurements? For example, I'll begin with 20 mm per second (max speed)
The information about this was added in the lines 203-205 in the new version of the document.
- Have they found any methodologies that are either non-destructive or semi-destructive that can be used to obtain repeat measurements of the firmness over time?
In our study we report that the double compression and puncture methods are good candidates for phenotyping purposes. Either of the two methods could be used to monitor firmness over time in different fruits, since both methods affect to a greater or lesser extent the characteristics of the fruit at the time of measurement. In particular, the compression method has already been used in some of the cited studies to measure firmness over time.
- Are you able to provide a definition for the elastic and/or plastic deformation that fruit undergoes when compressed?
Our texture analysis included the calculation of some features related to elasticity such as apparent modulus of elasticity and some that are an indication of elasticity such as slopes of the graphs. However, we do not report any textural trait that directly expresses the elasticity of the fruit. Our opinion is that providing a definition of elasticity could lead to a misinterpretation of the expected results of the texture analysis by the reader, for this reason we would prefer to avoid providing a definition of elasticity in the manuscript. In case the definition of elasticity is required for another purpose please let us know.
Reviewer 4 Report
The reviewed work provides the first relevant information on key methodologies, traits, parameters, and conditions for texture measurement in cranberry, for both research and industry. Previously used methods (compression) and those used for the first time in cranberry (puncture, shearing and Kramer shear cell) were evaluated. Three different cranberry cultivars with varying levels of fruit firmness (soft, medium, and hard) were tested. The methods used are well described.
The authors used only 21 literature items, which is not an impressive number. The discussion of the obtained results with the studies of other authors was practically omitted. If the authors believe that there is little literature data on this topic regarding cranberry, it was necessary to look for data on other fruits with similar characteristics. Discussion of the obtained results would significantly increase the article's value and the research's importance.
The bibliography needs to be unified. The bibliography is prepared very carelessly.
The reviewer's comments are presented below
Lines 92-100: Please provide more details about the cultivation and harvesting of the raw material.
Line 93: Why are the cranberry varieties that have been tested not listed? Are the variations known to the authors? An important issue is which variety was tested. In the further part of the article, the differences between individual varieties are indicated, therefore, the name of the varieties should be provided.
Line 122, 123, 129, 133….: Is the unit notation 10 mm . s-1 correct? Shouldn't it be written 10mm/s or 10mm*s-1? Please check the full text of the article.
Line 382: The numeric value should be separated from the unit by a space ( 7.77 ⁰C). Please check the entire article.
Line 339, 340: “p” in the p-value” should be written in lowercase and italics.
All tables and figures without an explanation of the abbreviations used are completely illegible. Figures and tables should be understandable to the reader without the need to check the text of the article. This applies to virtually all tables and figures in the manuscript. There are so many abbreviations used that it is impossible to get lost in the interpretation of data in the table or figure.
I propose to accept the article after major revision.
Author Response
REVIEWER 4
The authors used only 21 literature items, which is not an impressive number. The discussion of the obtained results with the studies of other authors was practically omitted. If the authors believe that there is little literature data on this topic regarding cranberry, it was necessary to look for data on other fruits with similar characteristics. Discussion of the obtained results would significantly increase the article's value and the research's importance.
In the new version of the document, the discussion of results was expanded, considering more studies carried out on cranberry and other species. The number of references increased to 40
The bibliography needs to be unified. The bibliography is prepared very carelessly.
The bibliography format was reviewed and corrected according to the journal's specifications.
The reviewer's comments are presented below
Lines 92-100: Please provide more details about the cultivation and harvesting of the raw material.
The required information was added, from line 155 to 160
Line 93: Why are the cranberry varieties that have been tested not listed? Are the variations known to the authors? An important issue is which variety was tested. In the further part of the article, the differences between individual varieties are indicated, therefore, the name of the varieties should be provided.
The name of the varieties and their level of firmness was added in the caption of each table and figure.
Line 122, 123, 129, 133….: Is the unit notation 10 mm . s-1 correct? Shouldn't it be written 10mm/s or 10mm*s-1? Please check the full text of the article.
That is the scientific notation format that has been used in this journal, here an examples: Souza, J. M. A., Leonel, S., Leonel, M., Garcia, E. L., Ribeiro, L. R., Ferreira, R. B., ... & Duarte, A. S. (2023). Calcium Nutrition in Fig Orchards Enhance Fruit Quality at Harvest and Storage. Horticulturae, 9(1), 123., Cane Girdling Influence on the Berry Texture Properties of Three Table Grape Varieties
Line 382: The numeric value should be separated from the unit by a space ( 7.77 ⁰C). Please check the entire article.
Thanks for the observation, the error has already been corrected
Line 339, 340: “p” in the p-value” should be written in lowercase and italics.
Fixed in the whole article
All tables and figures without an explanation of the abbreviations used are completely illegible. Figures and tables should be understandable to the reader without the need to check the text of the article. This applies to virtually all tables and figures in the manuscript. There are so many abbreviations used that it is impossible to get lost in the interpretation of data in the table or figure.
The captions of the tables and figures were modified to explain in greater detail the information contained.
I propose to accept the article after major revision.
Thank you!
Round 2
Reviewer 3 Report
Some of my concerns have been successfully addressed.
Author Response
Comments and Suggestions for AuthorsSome of my concerns have been successfully addressed.
Thank you!
Reviewer 4 Report
The text of the article has been significantly improved. I recommend accepting the article for publication.
Author Response
Comments and Suggestions for AuthorsThe text of the article has been significantly improved. I recommend accepting the article for publication.
Thank you!
