Phytofabrication of Silver Nanoparticles and Their Potent Antifungal Activity against Phytopathogenic Fungi

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Some  minor corrections were involved on the text

Comments for author File: Comments.pdf

Author Response

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Reviewer 2 Report

In this work, the authors did silver nanoparticle synthesis and evaluated its antifungal activity. Overall this study is well conducted some of the minor comments are

1. Various studies reported the green synthesis of silver nanoparticles and their applications what is the novelty of this work?

2. Scientific names should be in italics.

3. recent references should be added some of the suggested references are

Roy, A., & Bharadvaja, N. (2019). Silver nanoparticle synthesis from Plumbago zeylanica and its dye degradation activity. Bioinspired, Biomimetic and Nanobiomaterials, 8(2), 130-140.

Alharbi, N. S., Alsubhi, N. S., & Felimban, A. I. (2022). Green synthesis of silver nanoparticles using medicinal plants: characterization and application. Journal of Radiation Research and Applied Sciences, 15(3), 109-124.

Ahmed, H. M., Roy, A., Wahab, M., Ahmed, M., Othman-Qadir, G., Elesawy, B. H., ... & Emran, T. B. (2021). Applications of nanomaterials in agrifood and pharmaceutical industry. Journal of Nanomaterials, 2021.

4. Table 1 should have a statistical analysis.

Author Response

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Reviewer 3 Report

Rizwana and colleagues studied the green synthesis of AgNPs using plant extract (Origanum majorana) and tested their antifungal activity against phytopathogenic fungi. The manuscript is well-written and discussed, and the scope of this study is appropriate for this journal's special issue. However, I have identified some issues that require attention.

Methodology

Section 2.4

This does not appear to be a phytosynthesis method because the reduction of Ag to AgNPs was mediated by sunlight.

Line 149: Characterization with FTIR it should be written 4000 to 400 cm^-1 instead of the opposite because of the reverse unit.

Results and discussion:

Line 203-205: "Synthesis of nanoparticles under direct sunlight is a quick, facile, and efficient method of nanosynthesis. In this study, sunlight-irradiated green synthesis was successfully achieved using aqueous leaf extracts of Origanum majorana.”

The authors should investigate this thoroughly. The synthesis was mediated by direct sunlight rather than plant extract. To determine whether the plant extract acts as a reducing agent, the biosynthesis process should be conducted in the dark for comparison. Justify.

Figure 2: Place a 441 nm label to denote the SPR peak.

TEM: “Figure 4 displays the variable size of the photosynthesized AgNPs, which ranged between 8 nm and 42 nm.”  How the authors calculated the size distribution and how many particles were counted (based on the TEM micrograph). This should be explained in the methodology section.

Line 277-278: Edit this sentence. It should be DLS and Zeta sizer. And, since the authors measured the PDI with a Zeta sizer, why don't they include the zeta potential of the biosynthesized AgNPs?

EDX: The EDX spectrum contains too many impurities peak, and Ag's elemental composition (% weight) is lower than others. Could the author elaborate on this apparent anomaly?

Section 3.6: “The strong antifungal activity demonstrated in the present study authenticates that NPs derived from leaves of O. majorana leaves served as potent antifungals against a myriad of fungal isolates. The multitude of phytochemicals could have possibly aided in the synthesis of stable NPs”. –

To make this claim, the authors should evaluate the antifungal activity of the plant extract. Because silver has been used for centuries as a potent antimicrobial, its antifungal properties may be derived from the silver ion itself.

Minor issues:

correct μg/mL^-1 to μg/mL. Please recheck and correct all.

CFU/mL rather than CFU mL. Please correct all.

The figures should be placed next to their corresponding text, and the figures were pixelated (Fig 1, Fig 2, Fig 3, 4, 5, 6). Please provide the figure in .svg or vector format for a good-quality image.

References: Correct these references (no. 38, 39, 48, 51, 61, 65). Please double-check everything and ensure that the proper referencing format is used.

Author Response

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Round 2

Reviewer 3 Report

The author has responded to all of the reviewers' queries and improved the manuscript. Some minor issues, however, remained unresolved.

Line 150: Correct the IR unit. It should be written as cm^-1

Refer to the journal's guidelines. Figures and Table section (section 3.8) should be removed. Figures and tables should be placed next to their corresponding text.

Correct the AgNO3 formula. It should be written as AgNO₃. Please recheck to ensure that all of the chemical formulas are properly written.

Author Response

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Author Response File: Author Response.pdf