Beneficial Plant–Microbe Interactions and Stress Tolerance in Maize

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

The present study raised by Saroj summarizes our current understanding of the beneficial interactions between maize plants and specific microbes. It highlights the positive interactions between maize plants and beneficial microbes offer a promising solution for enhancing plant growth and nutrient absorption under challenging conditions. It had been carefully prepared and could be published after minor revision.

There was only one comment I gave to the authors as below

In part 4. Mechanism of abiotic stress tolerance in Maize

As the authors showed Plants developed various mechanisms to cope with various abiotic stresses, which are described below for three major abiotic stresses in maize, while they prepared this part as 4.1. Drought stress, 4.2. Maintaining ion homeostasis in salinity stress, 4.3. Osmotic adjustment, 4.4. Antioxidants and plant growth regulators, and 4.5. Polyamines and their roles in biotic stress in maize. I thought if three major abiotic stresses were described, authors should prepare this part as 4.1. Drought stress, 4.2 Higher temperatures and 4.3 Salt stress as they have showed in part 2. The present part 4.5 discussed about biotic stress should be revised as part 5.

In addition, the Mechanism of abiotic stress tolerance in Maize might also be combined to part 2 and 4.5. Polyamines and their roles in biotic stress in maize might also be combined to part 3.

After authors addressed this comment, the present manuscript could be published.

Author Response

Comment 1:The present study raised by Saroj summarizes our current understanding of the beneficial interactions between maize plants and specific microbes. It highlights the positive interactions between maize plants and beneficial microbes offer a promising solution for enhancing plant growth and nutrient absorption under challenging conditions. It had been carefully prepared and could be published after minor revision.

There was only one comment I gave to the authors as below

Response: Thank you so much for recommending the manuscript for publication and for your valuable suggestions. The suggested updates appear in the manuscript's track changes.

Comment 2: In part 4. Mechanism of abiotic stress tolerance in Maize

As the authors showed Plants developed various mechanisms to cope with various abiotic stresses, which are described below for three major abiotic stresses in maize, while they prepared this part as 4.1. Drought stress, 4.2. Maintaining ion homeostasis in salinity stress, 4.3. Osmotic adjustment, 4.4. Antioxidants and plant growth regulators, and 4.5. Polyamines and their roles in biotic stress in maize. I thought if three major abiotic stresses were described, authors should prepare this part as 4.1. Drought stress, 4.2 Higher temperatures and 4.3 Salt stress as they have showed in part 2. The present part 4.5 discussed about biotic stress should be revised as part 5.

Response: Changes are made as per suggestion. Thank you.

Comment 3: In addition, the Mechanism of abiotic stress tolerance in Maize might also be combined to part 2 and 4.5. Polyamines and their roles in biotic stress in maize might also be combined to part 3.

Response: Changes are made as per suggestion. Thank you.

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 2 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

The article focuses on the impact of beneficial Plant-Microbe Interactions and stress tolerance in maize. This type of knowledge is worth learning to understand potential by the application  of these microbes in maize production and identify major knowledge gaps that need to be addressed  to utilize the potential of beneficial microbes fully.The paper deals with important issues:  abiotic stresses and their impact on crop productivity, biotic stress and crop production, mechanism of abiotic stress tolerance in maize, beneficial plant-microbe interactions in Maize, nitrogen-fixing symbiosis with rhizobia, agricultural application of stress-tolerant microbes, microbe mediated, induced systemic resistance (ISR) in maize, challenges and future perspectives.

The article presents a literature review in a clear and transparent way. The work plan seems to be well planned. The literature is well selected, up-to-date, and the conclusions clearly refer to the review. However, the article contains some minor shortcomings, so I recommend that you slightly revise the article.

 

Minor issues to be corrected:

1.      Introduction

·         No specific purpose of the research was indicated (line 69-70). This review focuses on the beneficial plant microbe interactions in maize to enhance yield and mitigate environmental stresses. It is worth adding: the goal, for example searching for new strategies with high implementation potential to strengthen the agricultural economy or demand of farms to implement practices that mitigate the effects of drought in plant production.

 

2.      Abiotic stresses and their impact on crop productivity

·         It is also worth mentioning other countries (line 79).

 

3.      Biotic stress and crop production (line 128-139)

·         The chapter provides little information, is written too generally, it is worth adding more specific scientific data and supplementing the information with the latest literature.

 

5.      Beneficial plant-microbe interactions in Maize - 5.3. Agricultural application of stress-tolerant microbes  

·         ”increase in the yield” (line 339) - please expand the sentence, give more examples. Scientific literature describes very broadly the influence of microorganisms on the increase in plant yields.

 

6.   Challenges and future perspectives - (line 382-399).

·         Taking into account the current challenges facing society/scientists, it is worth mentioning what further work should focus on: assessing the durability of the effects caused by microorganisms in the long term or selecting the most effective strains for specific conditions and factors limiting agricultural production (e.g. drought, deficiency or excess ingredients).

 

7.      Conclusion

·         Conclusions could be a bit more developed – especially extracted from the own results, not only the broader but not detailed statements.

·         It is recommended introduce short list positive mechanism plant-microbe interactions on stress tolerance maize (line 41-42)

 

In summary, the paper is worth publishing in the Journal.

 

Author Response

The article focuses on the impact of beneficial Plant-Microbe Interactions and stress tolerance in maize. This type of knowledge is worth learning to understand potential by the application  of these microbes in maize production and identify major knowledge gaps that need to be addressed  to utilize the potential of beneficial microbes fully.The paper deals with important issues:  abiotic stresses and their impact on crop productivity, biotic stress and crop production, mechanism of abiotic stress tolerance in maize, beneficial plant-microbe interactions in Maize, nitrogen-fixing symbiosis with rhizobia, agricultural application of stress-tolerant microbes, microbe mediated, induced systemic resistance (ISR) in maize, challenges and future perspectives.

The article presents a literature review in a clear and transparent way. The work plan seems to be well planned. The literature is well selected, up-to-date, and the conclusions clearly refer to the review. However, the article contains some minor shortcomings, so I recommend that you slightly revise the article.

Response: Thank you so much for recommending the manuscript for publication and for your valuable suggestions. The suggested updates appear in the manuscript's track changes.

 

Minor issues to be corrected:

1. Introduction

• No specific purpose of the research was indicated (line 69-70). This review focuses on the beneficial plant microbe interactions in maize to enhance yield and mitigate environmental stresses. It is worth adding: the goal, for example searching for new strategies with high implementation potential to strengthen the agricultural economy or demand of farms to implement practices that mitigate the effects of drought in plant production.

Response

            Thanks for your suggestion. We added and updated the track change in the manuscript. ‘The goal is to identify new strategies with high implementation potential to strengthen the agricultural economy and address the demand for practices that mitigate the effects of drought and other stress factors in maize production. Emphasizing the relationship be-tween maize and its microbiome offers a promising research area for increasing productivity and yield.’

 

 

2. Abiotic stresses and their impact on crop productivity

• It is also worth mentioning other countries (line 79).

Response

            Thanks for your suggestion. Following information has been added and updated the track change in the manuscript. ‘Similarly different study has shown that a temperature increase of 6℃ above 35℃ for 3 days during silking period reduced yield by 13% in USA [21]; temperature of 33 to 36℃ during pre and post flowering stage reduced yield by 10-45% in Argentina [22]; and each degree above 30℃ in reproductive stage decreased yield by 1-1.7% in Africa [23]’

 

3. Biotic stress and crop production (line 128-139)

• The chapter provides little information, is written too generally, it is worth adding more specific scientific data and supplementing the information with the latest literature.

Response

            Thanks for your suggestion. We added some details at line 265 such as ‘The European corn borer alone causes up to $2 billion in losses per year in USA while 50% yield reduction by northern leaf blight occurred in northern regions of China [41]. Similar-ly, Colletotrichum graminicola which causes anthracnose in maize is a major threat respon-sible for annual loss up to $1 billion while maize weevil (Sitophilus zeamais) damages over 30% grain during on-farm storage [40]’

 

 

5. Beneficial plant-microbe interactions in Maize - 5.3. Agricultural application of stress-tolerant microbes  

• ”increase in the yield” (line 339) - please expand the sentence, give more examples. Scientific literature describes very broadly the influence of microorganisms on the increase in plant yields.

Response

            Thank you for the note. However, these details are expanded in the table section of the manuscript, so we did not repeat the same thing in the text.

 

 

6. Challenges and future perspectives -(line 382-399).

• Taking into account the current challenges facing society/scientists, it is worth mentioning what further work should focus on: assessing the durability of the effects caused by microorganisms in the long term or selecting the most effective strains for specific conditions and factors limiting agricultural production (e.g. drought, deficiency or excess ingredients).

 

Response

            Thank you for your valuable suggestion. We addressed your comments by including ‘ Addressing the current challenges facing society and scientists, future work should focus on assessing the long-term durability of the effects caused by microorganisms. This includes evaluating the stability of these effects over multiple growing seasons and varying environmental conditions. Importantly, selecting the most effective microbial strains for specific conditions, such as drought, salinity, heat stress or nutrient deficien-cy, is a key aspect. Educating farmers about the use and efficiency of biofertilizers is another important challenge’ in the manuscript.

 

 

7. Conclusion

• Conclusions could be a bit more developed – especially extracted from the own results, not only the broader but not detailed statements.
• It is recommended introduce short list positive mechanism plant-microbe interactions on stress tolerance maize (line 41-42)

Response

            Thank you for the suggestion. We added short list in the conclusion as per suggestion.

 

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf