Prediction Models Founded on Soil Characteristics for the Estimated Uptake of Nine Metals by Okra Plant, Abelmoschus esculentus (L.) Moench., Cultivated in Agricultural Soils Modified with Varying Sewage Sludge Concentrations
, Kamal H. Shaltout 3, Saad A. M. Alamri 1, Sulaiman A. Alrumman 1, Nasser Sewelam 3, Mostafa A. Taher 1,4, Mohamed Hashem 1,5, Yasser S. Mostafa 1 and Mohamed T. Ahmed 1Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
Paper is very well written. Experimental design appears to be adequate. Statistical analysis and presentation are acceptable.
Author Response
Comments of Reviewer # 1:
Paper is very well written. Experimental design appears to be adequate. Statistical analysis and presentation are acceptable.
Response: Thanks so much Sir for your positive comments.
I would appreciate if the revised version of our manuscript would be considered for publication in Sustainability.
Sincerely,
Ebrahem M. Eid
Kafrelsheikh University, Kafr El-Sheikh, Egypt
Author Response File: 
Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 2 Report
Comments and Suggestions for Authors
The manuscript by Ebrahem M. Eid, et al. (Prediction Models Founded on Soil Characteristics for the Estimation of Uptake of Nine Metals by Abelmoschus Esculentus (L.) Moench. (okra plant), Cultivated in Agricultural Soils Modified by Varying Sewage Sludge Concentrations) deals with an important issue, about to create a prediction model about metal enrichment in plants.
Firstly, please revise the English language editing and style by native speaker. The other important point, please give more evidence to support these conclusions, such as, greatest conc. (Line 19), how to say negatively and positively correlated (Line 20&21……). Negative impact (Line 34) The advised maximum levels (Line 69), which level ?, and so on.
Secondly, please explain what is organic matter in this manuscript. And give the reasons why to select these 9 species metals. And please revise the abstract part with more clear results.
Thirdly, please summarize the abbreviations and attach as one supplement.
4th, please revise the introduction part more scientifically, objectively, and convincingly. Please use references whenever possible.
5th, Line 76-84, please describe this research objective more clearly.
6th , about study species(2.1), the soil and sewage sludge messages is also important.
7th, if possible, would you like to add one flowchart about your experimental design and sample analysis(2.2 &2.3 part).
8th, about results, it seems hard to find information about varying sewage sludge concentrations and different points about them.
In my mind, this article is with a very interesting topic but its data looks not enough to support this research. If possible, please add more important information about this research.
Author Response
Comments of Reviewer # 2:
The manuscript by Ebrahem M. Eid, et al. (Prediction Models Founded on Soil Characteristics for the Estimation of Uptake of Nine Metals by Abelmoschus Esculentus (L.) Moench. (okra plant), Cultivated in Agricultural Soils Modified by Varying Sewage Sludge Concentrations) deals with an important issue, about to create a prediction model about metal enrichment in plants.
Firstly, please revise the English language editing and style by native speaker.
Response: We greatly appreciate your critical observations as well as your constructive and helpful comments. We hope that we could address your questions/comments by the explanations and revisions made in the manuscript. To meet the standards of the journal, an English Language Editing Service provided by MDPI English Editing Services (Project no. english-36238) was used. Please see the attached certificate of language editing.
The other important point, please give more evidence to support these conclusions, such as, greatest conc. (Line 19).
Response: This sentence was rephrased to: All the metals under investigation apart from cadmium were more concentrated in the A. esculentus roots than in any other organ.
how to say negatively and positively correlated (Line 20&21……).
Response: To avoid this confusion, that sentence was rephrased to: The metal BCFs were negatively correlated with the pH of the soil and positively correlated with the soil OM content.
Negative impact (Line 34)
Response: This sentence was rephrased to: The technical implications involved in the proper disposal of modern municipal wastes have made it essential to develop alternative waste management approaches that reduce the environmental impacts resulting from improper disposal [1].
The advised maximum levels (Line 69), which level ?, and so on.
Response: The recommended permissible limits were given in the text.
Secondly, please explain what is organic matter in this manuscript. And give the reasons why to select these 9 species metals. And please revise the abstract part with more clear results.
Response: In the text, organic matter was changed to organic matter content.
The following reason was given to answer why these 9 metals were selected: to predict the concentration of the most common metals (Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Fe, Mn, Ni, Pb, and Zn [18]) in the four tissues of A. esculentus (i.e., fruit, leaf, stem, and root) cultivated …...
The abstract was revised to be clear.
Thirdly, please summarize the abbreviations and attach as one supplement.
Response: All abbreviations were summarized in supplementary material 1.
4th, please revise the introduction part more scientifically, objectively, and convincingly. Please use references whenever possible.
Response: The introduction was improved accordingly.
5th, Line 76-84, please describe this research objective more clearly.
Response: The aims were redescribed to be clear.
6th , about study species(2.1), the soil and sewage sludge messages is also important.
Response: Thanks Sir. Some information was added.
7th, if possible, would you like to add one flowchart about your experimental design and sample analysis (2.2 &2.3 part).
Response: Thanks Sir for this recommendation. We added a flowchart.
8th, about results, it seems hard to find information about varying sewage sludge concentrations and different points about them.
Response: In the current work, we only focused on the development of mathematical regression models which include some soil parameters as explanatory independent variables (metals, pH and organic matter) to predict the concentration of nine metals (Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Fe, Mn, Ni, Pb and Zn) in the four tissues of A. esculentus (fruit, leaf, stem and root).
The effect of amendment with different sewage sludge rates on the soil metal pools, growth, yield and metal uptake of okra plants will be publish in another paper.
In my mind, this article is with a very interesting topic but its data looks not enough to support this research. If possible, please add more important information about this research.
Response: Some paragraphs were added to the text.
I hope the explanation given above adequately addresses the reviewers’ comment. I would appreciate if the revised version of our manuscript would be considered for publication in Sustainability.
Sincerely,
Ebrahem M. Eid
Kafrelsheikh University, Kafr El-Sheikh, Egypt
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 3 Report
The manuscript number ID: sustainability-1418522 is referred to the assessment, through the generation of prediction models, of the degree to which cadmium, cobalt, chromium, copper, iron, manganese, nickel, lead and zinc were taken up by the fruits, leaves, stems and roots of the okra plant, Abelmoschus esculentus (L.) Moench., grown under glass in soil modified by a spectrum of sewage sludge concentrations, i.e. 0, 10, 20, 30, 40 and 50 g/kg, respectively.
The paper is quite well-organized. It contains some original results and the overall presentation is convincing.
The following corrections are recommended:
1. In general Introduction has a good structure. The introduction should be enriched with a paragraph explaining the correlation between the following sections. 2. The authors should ensure the reliability of their study. 3. The authors should refer in more detail and in clearly way the advantages of their methodology and summarize possible limitations. More comments are required about the proposed research framework.4. Improvement in English write-up is required.
Author Response
Comments of Reviewer # 3:
The manuscript number ID: sustainability-1418522 is referred to the assessment, through the generation of prediction models, of the degree to which cadmium, cobalt, chromium, copper, iron, manganese, nickel, lead and zinc were taken up by the fruits, leaves, stems and roots of the okra plant, Abelmoschus esculentus (L.) Moench., grown under glass in soil modified by a spectrum of sewage sludge concentrations, i.e. 0, 10, 20, 30, 40 and 50 g/kg, respectively.
The paper is quite well-organized. It contains some original results and the overall presentation is convincing.
Response: We greatly appreciate your critical observations as well as your constructive and helpful comments. We hope that we could address your questions/comments by the explanations and revisions made in the manuscript.
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The following corrections are recommended:
- In general Introduction has a good structure. The introduction should be enriched with a paragraph explaining the correlation between the following sections.
Response: A new paragraph was added to enrich the introduction.
- The authors should ensure the reliability of their study.
Response: One paragraph in the conclusion section was added to ensure the reliability of our study.
- The authors should refer in more detail and in clearly way the advantages of their methodology and summarize possible limitations. More comments are required about the proposed research framework.
Response: Advantages and limitations were added to conclusion section.
- Improvement in English write-up is required.
Response: To meet the standards of the journal, an English Language Editing Service provided by MDPI English Editing Services (Project no. english-36238) was used. Please see the attached certificate of language editing.
I hope the explanation given above adequately addresses the reviewers’ comment. I would appreciate if the revised version of our manuscript would be considered for publication in Sustainability.
Sincerely,
Ebrahem M. Eid
Kafrelsheikh University, Kafr El-Sheikh, Egypt
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
Round 2
Reviewer 2 Report
Dear authors,
Thank you for your hard work to show this revised edition.
Best regards.
