Soil Nutrient Dynamics under Silviculture, Silvipasture and Hortipasture as Alternate Land-Use Systems in Semi-Arid Environment

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

1. The backgroud of various ALUS is not clear, more speific description should be given in Methods.  Such as specific climate condition, elevation, the state of vegetation before ALUS,etc.

2.   Method of soil nutrient analysis is too simple, main test steps should be given.

3. Why S,  H, SPS, A, NT, N and F were used to perform this study?  It should be explained in Introduction.

4. Why the soil was sampled at October?

5. Why nutrient content was improved by ALUS. It is unexplained in Disccusion, especillay the microelement. "the organic molecules have increased  the availability of micronutrients in soils by forming chelates of their cations." is not convincing.

6. The Dicussion is too weak due to the insufficient documentation.

7. What is your novelty? The soil nutrient indicators are very conventional.

Author Response

See attached file

Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Reviewer 2 Report

Soil nutrient dynamics under silviculture, silvipasture, and hortipasture as alternate land use systems in semi-arid environment

Overall

This manuscript presents results of soil nutrient assessments of six Alternative Land Use Systems (ALUS) compared to a Fallow system within the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.

There needs to be a much more complete description of how each ALUS was established, and the experimental design of how the various variables were sampled.  Make sure to include more paragraphs within the whole paper.  Although this manuscript is an interesting study, the English needs to be substantially improved. 

I am left wondering what is the purpose of ALUS, meaning what are they alternative too?  Alternative to urban areas, or more just for rural areas such that they are alternative to undeveloped areas (e.g. wildlands), or alternative to agriculture.  You mention Degraded land, areas, and trees, but what does that more specifically mean – degraded how?  Also, more discussion about why the six particular ALUS were selected would be helpful?  Are these ALUSs commonly implemented and practiced today, or are one or more experimental in nature, and this study will help to promote that particular ALUS? 

I think the authors should provide some discussion about why the measured soil nutrients are important – for instance, why does knowing how Cu or Zn vary among these specific ALUS matter?  I am not saying they are not important, I just wonder are there specific reasons for the environment, ecosystems, and the economies in this region that Cu or Zn are important?  In the Discussion section, for example, you mention a few findings about Zn, why do those findings matter?

Lines 259-260.  Available Zn and Mn (DTPA extracted) were highly significant (p< 0.001) with land use and soil depth.

Lines 267-268.  The relationship between soil depth and available Zn (DTPA extracted) was significantly significant (p<0.001).

These are good findings, but what does this matter to the environment or local economies, or how does knowing this information help repair degraded vegetative areas?

Specific Comments:

ABSTRACT

Need to make sure scientific names are in italics.  Also make sure to include the authority.

INTRODUCTION

Lines 39-41.  By utilizing both concrete and intangible advantages, silviculture plays a considerable role in the Indian economy.

Lines 41-43.  In reality, it allows for the simultaneous achievement of three important objectives, namely, safeguarding and stabilizing ecosystems, producing an excess level of financial commodities, and increasing income and access to essentials for rural people.

Line 46.  New paragraph.

Lines 52-54.  Silviculture is essential for lowering vulnerability, boosting agricultural structural resilience, and shielding households from weather-related threats.

What do you mean by “shielding households”?  Do you mean financially in the sense of reducing costs associated with destructive weather events, or more physically shielding them (perhaps the trees are blocking homes from wind, or are trees utilizing floodwater and hence helps to reduce flooding)?  Instead of weather-related threats do you mean climatic threats, or global warming.  As written, this reads that silviculture can reduce impacts of say hurricanes or typhoons directly to households structurally.  Which I am not sure it can have a substantial impact, unless households are right in the middle of an unmanaged forest.

Line 55.  New paragraph.

Line 67.  New paragraph.

Objectives (e.g. Lines 67 to 71)

Prior research has mostly concentrated on ALUS's potential for productivity [9] or carbon sequestration [10], and little effort has been made to understand nutrient cycles and dynamics associated with ALUS. The main goal of this particular experiment was to assess nutrient dynamics in order to determine how various silvopasture and silvicultural systems affected such dynamics of nutrients in the topsoil and subsurface soil layers.

METHODS

Line 74.  Should it be …in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, within the Jhansi District.

Line 77.  Need italics for the genus and species, also need to include the authority.

Line 82.  What does Fallow mean?  Is it an area that has never been degraded, it is a former agricultural area that has now been left to its own?  Why is it important to compare the six ALUSs to a Fallow?

Table 1.  I suggest putting the full land use system name, as well as the abbreviation. 

Lines 82-93.  A much more complete description of how each ALUS was established is needed.  How do lines of text within 82-93 correspond to the six ALUS mentioned within text lines 77 to 80.  Was Leucaena leucocephala, also known as Subabool (S), planted by hand, what was the seedling source (native or not), what was the planting density, what was the site preparation? 

Are the six ALUS sites experimentally or operationally established?  If experimentally established, what is the experimental design (e.g. Randomized complete block, a split plot, or completely randomized)?

Lines 77-93.  How close are these sites to one another, are they all near one another?  Perhaps a map showing the study layout would be helpful. 

Line 106.  You mention LUS, it may be best to just use ALUS consistently throughout the paper.

Line 107.  Are the seven treatments the seven Land Use Systems in Table 1?  You need to describe the experimental design for all seven ALUS (as mentioned above for lines 82-93) in order for me to understand that you have a Randomized Block design. 

Lines 105-117.  2.2 Soil sampling and processing.  I am sorry, but this is hard to follow.  Once again, I am not sure that you have a randomized block design comparing the seven LUS/ALUS.

Lines 118-126.  2.3 Soil Analysis.  Need a more complete description of the experimental design for how the deionized water was collected across LUS/ALUS (for instance, are there replicates?), particularly given the description within 2.2. Soil sampling and processing describing a Randomized Block design with three replicates.

Line 129.  You mentioned a Randomized Block design but then use a one way ANOVA (e.g. completely randomized design).  Obviously something is incorrect, or the analytical component must be more completely described.

RESULTS

Line 133.  Need to define EC within the text.

Tables 3 and 4.  For clarity, I would separate the subheadings by the nutrient.  Thus, after the first SE(m) put a line of space, followed by a centered Available Nitrogen, and so forth for phosphorus and potassium.

DISCUSSION

Line 254.  What type of scales, spatial?, or other scales as well?

You need to separate the text into more paragraphs.  Also, avoid the use of repeatedly starting sentences with the word The.

In many ways the Discussion is merely a repeat or extension of the Results section.  You need to have a stronger discussion about how your results agree with/counter/and relate to findings from other studies, preferentially of this region or regions similar in vegetation and climate.

CONCLUSIONS

You need more concrete and definitive statements as to why the various measured nutrients are important (why does anyone care about Zn or Cu), and how their varying values among the ALUS contribute significantly to increased resources for people and animals, and how they benefit the environment.

According to this paper, ALUSs are essential for restoring nutrients to damaged areas. Trees have an impact on how well rehabilitation techniques work. Additionally, ALUS enhanced the capability for nutrient supply and carbon buildup. Thus, compared to other systems and fallow, legume tree-based ALUSs like S, H, and SPS significantly enhanced soil physicochemical characteristics and biological quality.

What do these statements and findings mean relative to existing management, and how might various ALUSs be helpful?  In the Abstract (lines 15 and 16) you mention: In order to support livelihoods, enhance food security, restore ecosystem services, and reduce pressure on forests, degraded land can be restored utilising alternative land use systems (ALUS)…

What ALUSs do you recommend?  What you have is a good start, and to me is part of a more specific explanation of why these findings are important for managers in this region and how certain ALUSs might benefit the economy of this region as a whole.

You mention the Paris Agreement, but why is that important to ALUS in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh?  I am not saying ALUSs aren’t, I am just saying you need to expound upon this sentence with a few more sentences to make sure we know why the Paris Agreement is important – perhaps that is a driver for this research?

Author Response

See attached file

Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Round 2

Reviewer 1 Report

The manscript has been improved obviously.

Author Response

Dear Reviewer,
 Thank you for reviewing our manuscript. We greatly appreciate the positive and constructive feedback provided by you. A grammar check has been done.

Reviewer 2 Report

I do feel the paper has been improved.  However, the English still needs to be improved.  The authors should also include more paragraphs.  In places some scientific names still are not italicized.  For some Tables, I would include the entire ALUS name, in addition to the abbreviation. 

The Methods section has been improved. 

I think the Conclusions section is stronger, but once again the English needs to be improved.

Author Response

Dear Reviewer,
Thank you for reviewing our manuscript. We greatly appreciate the positive and constructive feedback provided by you. A grammar check has been done.