Egyptian Opuntia ficus-indica (OFI) Residues: Recovery and Characterization of Fresh Mucilage from Cladodes

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report (Previous Reviewer 1)

The authors of the manuscript “Extraction of Liquid Mucilage from Fresh Egyptian Opuntia ficus-indica Cladodes and their characteristics for Food Applications” resubmit a new version  of the paper.  The work is improved from the first version and, in my opinion, can be accepted by Horticulturae

Author Response

Please see the attachment

Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Reviewer 2 Report (Previous Reviewer 2)

In this manuscript, the authors reported that the liquid mucilage extracted from fresh Egyptian OFI cladode showed promising properties that could be useful in the food, pharmaceutical, cosmetic, and other industries. I think there are several problems to be explained and tackled in this manuscript. Therefore, my opinion is some revision. The comments are attached at the following:

1.      The overall experimental design is relatively simple. You can add some applications on OFI liquid mucilage.

2.      The first chapter of the Introduction is essentially a discussion of the OFI, to which some technical analysis should be added to provide a logical presentation of each of the issues mentioned in the text.

3.      The connection between the two sentences is not very smooth and some connecting words could be added.

4.      Is it appropriate to purify OFI liquid mucilage only by a fine cloth filtration method?

5.      The Conclusions section is less informative and should provide a systematic summary of the previous test sections.

6.      Some references lack volume and page numbers, please add them.

7.      The test results show that OFI liquid mucilage contains a high level of sugar, please add the results of the determination of its total sugar content.

8.      There are few tables in this paper. The sugar components in OFI liquid mucilage can be summarized and the content of various sugar components can be marked to make the test more complete.

9.      The title of the article does not adequately summarize the content of the article, please rework it.

Author Response

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Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 3 Report (New Reviewer)

Manuscript Number: horticulturae-2440252, titled:

 

 

 

 Extraction of Liquid Mucilage from Fresh Egyptian Opuntia ficus-indica Cladode: I-A characterization study

 

Review 1 – 27 May 2023

 

Dear Editor of Horticulturae

 

the argument is interesting but it has to be improved. The introduction section has to be better presented and the M&M section has to be completed. The analytical methods have to be better described. The discussion and bibliography have to be improved. The manuscript is not always arranged as per the instructions for authors of Horticulturae. Inaccuracies in the text.

 

 

 

I suggest a major revision

 

To the Authors (in detail):

 

1. the argument is interesting but it has to be improved. The introduction section has to be better presented and the M&M section has to be completed. The analytical methods have to be better described. The discussion and bibliography have to be improved. The manuscript is not always arranged as per the instructions for authors of Horticulturae. Inaccuracies in the text.

 

2. In the title and at the first mention of a scientific name, please, apply the Official nomenclature and include the abbreviation of the Botanist;
3. In the title: I-A? Detail also in relation to the content in your manuscript;
4. Sub-section 2.2, describe the microclimate of the production area and the type of soil;
5. Sub-section 2.2, if plants were cultiva6ted, please, describe the agronomic practices: fertilizers (type, quantity, period); pest treatments, (type, quantity, period);
6. Sub-section 2.2, describe the date of cladode picking and the days after flowering;
7. sub sub-section 2.4.1, please, describe the type of ether for Soxhlet extraction, the extraction duration; the extraction procedure (did you make a cold static extraction before to heat the solvent?); the quantity of raw material included and the ratio sample/solvent;
8. sub sub-section 2.4.2., line 156, detail for the HPLC column: 250 mm length, 4.6 mm I.D., 5 μm particle size;
9. sub sub-section 2.4.2., line 157, detail as per line 156 I have specified above;
10. sub sub-section 3.1.1., lines 238-239, you made the analysis to quantify fat, please, indicate the quantity you have found;
11. sub sub-section 3.1.1., the data of table 1 are not discussed in the text: quantify and compare the quantities  with findings of other authors;
12. sub sub-section 3.1.1., when you will discuss about DPPH, ABTS and ORAC assays, please, explain that these assays are commonly applied to study the antioxidant capacity of many vegetable matrices and support this statement with proper references for DPPH, ABTS [X1, X2] and for ORAC [X2, X3]. Please, find, read and discuss:

 

[X1] Physico-chemical Stability of Blood Orange Juice during Frozen Storage.

International Journal of Food Properties 20:sup2, 1930-1943 (2017).

 https://doi.org/10.1080/10942912.2017.1359184

 

[X2] Effect of heating on chemical parameters of extra virgin olive oil, pomace olive oil, soybean oil and palm oil.

Italian Journal of Food Science 30 (4), 715-739 (2018).

 http://dx.doi.org/10.14674/IJFS-1269

 

[X3] Hydrogen Peroxide Can Enhance the Synthesis of Bioactive Compounds in Harvested Broccoli Florets.

Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems volume 622 (2022). Article number 812123.

DOI: 10.3389/fsufs.2022.812123

 

13. sub sub-section 3.1.1., the discussion is extremely poor, and in some case there is no discussion of data. Please, extend in relation to the title of your manuscript;
14. sub sub-section 3.1.3, this section has to be moved before the one of sugars and merged with the sub sub-section 3.1.1, in fact, your antioxidants data are in table 1. Move this section before table 1 and when you discuss antioxidants data, indicate that they are in table 1. After this, re-arrange the numbering of sections, sub-sections and sub sub-sections;
15. In the discussion of your data, almost completely lacks the comment related to the application of this matrix. What the relationship between each datum and the possible application of: Liquid Mucilage from Fresh Egyptian Opuntia ficus-indica Cladode?
16. In the whole manuscript, verify the abbreviations you have applied;
17. References section: the journal name has to be abbreviated. Apply the proper abbreviation (see Google journal title abbreviations);
18. Please, write in blue color or evidence differently the corrections you will do.

 

I suggest a major revision

 

Regards.

 

Author Response

Please see the attachment

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Round 2

Reviewer 2 Report (Previous Reviewer 2)

The authors have answered the questions of the reviewers and revised the manuscript accordingly. The paper was improved and I think it can be considered for acceptance in its present form.

Reviewer 3 Report (New Reviewer)

Manuscript Number: horticulturae-2440252, titled:

 

 

 

 Extraction of Liquid Mucilage from Fresh Egyptian Opuntia ficus-indica Cladode: I-A characterization study

 

Review 2 – 16 June 2023

 

Dear Editor of Horticulturae

 

the argument is interesting and the Authors have included all my comments. The introduction is well presented and the M&M section was completed. The analytical methods are well described. The discussion and bibliography are improved.

 

 

 

I suggest the publication in the current form.

 

 

Regards.

 

This manuscript is a resubmission of an earlier submission. The following is a list of the peer review reports and author responses from that submission.

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

The authors of the manuscript “Extraction of Liquid Mucilage from Fresh Egyptian Opuntia ficus-indica Cladodes and their characteristics for Food Applications” present a work about the extraction and characterization of pure liquid mucilage from cladodes of O. ficus-indica (Egyptian variety) using multidimensional approaches including HPLC-RID, FTIR, XRD, NMR, DSC and TGA. Chemical composition, total polyphenols and antioxidant capacity were also measured. The experiments are not clearly described, and the IR-FT and NMR experiments do not seem congruent.

Reviewer 2 Report

In this manuscript, the authors focused on extracting and characterizing pure liquid mucilage from fresh egyptian opuntia ficus-indica cladodes, studying with multidimensional approaches the chemical composition and physical properties of the liquid mucilage. I think the work has some novelty, however, there are several problems to be explained and tackled in this manuscript. Therefore, my opinion is some revision. The comments are listed as follows:

1.     The formatting of the article is different for the same level of headings, please double check and correct.

2.     The article states that "All the parts of OFI are rich in polyphenols (flavonoids and phenolic acids)", so that the test would be complete by adding a determination of flavonoid content.

3.     The elution time of the HPLC is not shown in the article.

4.     How to remove other interfering components during HPLC test of sugar composition? Or is there any purification of the sugar composition?

5.     The connection between the two sentences is not very smooth and some connecting words could be added.

6.     Tables and pictures are not placed where they should be in relation to the text. For example, Table 1 should be placed under the heading "3.1.1. Chemical composition".

7.     This study showed that fresh egyptian opuntia ficus-indica cladodes is rich in polyphenols and possesses some excellent properties such as antioxidant activity, so could it be applied to in vivo or in vitro antioxidants, which would make the research more complete.