Empower Innovations in Routine Soil Testing

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Brief summary

The idea of using NIRS technology in soil analysis is quite recent, while that of using CaCl₂ extraction in the study of soil fertility is older, however there are few experiments like this that have deepened the statistical validation of this methodology. The results offered by the methods tested here on a large number of soil samples, were found to be highly correlated with the responses of conventional analyzes, in particular for some basic physical parameters and for the content of essential nutrients. Hence these results demonstrated that the new broad-spectrum soil analysis techniques are valid for the initiation of their use in soil management and agricultural fertilization.

General concept comments

I have don't foud any problems 

Specific comments

I have no specific observations with the only exception of: Line 119    “… correlation coefficient R2 > 0.90…” correlation coefficient or determination   coefficient ?

Some clarifications required

The manuscript is clear, relevant for the field and presented in a well-structured manner.

The cited references are normal and complete.

The experimental design is appropriate to test the hypothesis.

The figure / tables are appropriate and the statistical analysis are correct.

The conclusions are consistent according to the experimental hypothesis and the results.

The possible practical applications are very interesting.

Author Response

dear reviewer, 

Please see the Attachment. 

Best regards, Jan Adriaan Reijneveld

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 2 Report

Although the findings of the study are interesting, the work is not well focussed and reminds more a technical report rather than an scientific article. Therefore, the authors must substantially revise the manusctript.

1. Line 101: Also add the appropriate reference https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2017.07.079
2. Lines 165-166: What was the area of fields?
3. Place the legends of the figures below the graph
4. Figure 1: Revise the x-axis
5. Lines 301-310: Move to M&M
6. Lines 315-316: Since SOM=2xSOC, explain the order SOM>SOC
7. Provide some statistics for the properties of soil samples.
8. Figure 2 Provide captions of x-y axis
9. Lines 498 - 505: Add reference
10. 4.2 The interpretation for micronutrients is missing
11. Please use the journal style for references list.

Author Response

dear reviewer, 

See the Attachment, 

Best regards, Jan Adriaan Reijneveld

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 3 Report

agronomy-1509253
Implementing multi-nutrient 0.01 M CaCl2 extractions and NIRS to empower innovations in routine soil testing
In this research, the authors adopted a new method for assessing some soil characteristics.  Despite the importance of the topic, authors failed in presenting their work in an appropriate way. In general, authors rely on data collected from Eurofins Agro, however, there is huge uncertainty in the data collection itself as it was collected by farmers.  Also, the authors neglected the influence of different land use on physicochemical soil properties. On the other hand, the authors used the RPD to evaluate NIRS performance which is another source of uncertainty. 
In general, authors did not follow the author's guidelines for the preparation of their MS. Figures are not clear and overlap each other.  The current version should be rejected. 
Some comments:
The title is not appropriate and should be improved 
The abstract should be rewritten; it is not informative. 
Please use only 5 keywords 
L53: the soil is a function to ……. Not soil fertility. Please adhere to the original definition. 
L59 reference. 

Author Response

dear reviewer, 

Please see the Attachment.

Best regards, Jan Adriaan Reijneveld 

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Round 2

Reviewer 2 Report

The manuscript have been revised satisfactorily and it's OK now.