Safety Disposal of Rice Straw by Biodegradation Using Streptomyces Tendae

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

• The manuscript is well-written however there is a lack of absence of novelty.
• Despite the abstract already having an introduction, problem statement, statement of possible solution selection, and final conclusion, no clear-cut future recommendations, and some quantitative data are provided to attract the interest of the reader. clarify these in 1-2 lines.
• The references in the introduction are old, so the newest one is 6 years ago! please add new references!
• The experimental design, data collections, and statistical analysis were not clear! What kind of they were used?
• The result and discussion section have limited interpretations to explain of lignocellulolytic activity of actinobacteria during biodegradation of rice straw!

Author Response

My colleague,

The worse methods of rice straw rid off is widely used especially in the development countries, which are sever suffered from air pollution. So, the scientific idea of the research has been introduced despite no novelty in general. The results and discussion presented are the maximum that can be put forward in this research. 

Thanks

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 2 Report

Title : Safety Disposal of Rice Straw by Biodegradation Using Streptomyces tendae
Authors : Fahad Al-Dhabaan
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In this paper, the authors present a biodegradation technique as eco-friendly method, with the identification of 3 actinobacterial isolates out of 30 tested, to biodegradate rice straw. 

Strengths:
. The abstract presents correctly and synthetically the paper.  
. The bibliography part has been worked, and is well analysed in the introduction section.  
. The subject addressed is very important, and could lead to a very useful technique for the good of our planet. 

Weaknesses:
. The international units should be more stricly respected. 
. The experiments should be more developed in your revision. You have the place the develop section 3, which could be very interesting for the readers.
. Conclusion must be extended.  

Originality / Novelty:
. The question set in this paper is original and well defined.  

Significance:
. The content of this paper is significant. Scientific matter contained in this manuscript is of quality, and should be enhanced in section 3. 
. The results could be better presented. This would emphasize the quality of the presented work.  
. The presented results are significant in my opinion, but should be more explained.  
. The technical quality of this paper could be improved.  
. The conclusion is not supported by the results. This point could be corrected with the necessary extension of the conclusion.  
. The limits of the results obtained in this paper are not mentioned. This point could be investigated.  
. Anyway, this paper is very interesting for its potential readers.  

Quality of presentation:
. The abstract is clear and presents correctly the subject addressed in this paper.  
. This paper contains the basic sections of a scientific paper.  
. No subheadings are used, but some could be taken in section 2.  
. This paper is clear, easy to follow and to read, and logically written.  
. The data and analyses could be better presented.  
. Conclusion is poor, and should be extended.  

Scientific soundness:
. The subject addressed in this paper is very relevant.  
. The study has been correctly designed, and is technically sound, but details should be given to better highlight this point.  
. The analysis of the results could gain of a more detailed investigation and presentation.  
. The data presented in this study could be completed, in order to ensure robustness to the drawn conclusions. Furthermore, a complete "real life" application could be tested. 
. The methods and software could be more deeply described, with enough details to allow another researcher to reproduce the results.

Interest to the readers:
. In my opinion, this paper is very interesting and deserves to attract a wide readership, beyond the limits of the journal's readership.  

Overall evaluation:
. The authors have addressed an original question, with smart experiments. 
. I think there is an overall benefit to publish this work, after having answered to the suggestions proposed in this review. 
. The English language quality of this paper is globally appropriate and acceptable. However, some minor revisions and spell check seem to be necessary.
. This work provides an advance towards the current knowledge, clearly highlighted in the abstract.

As a conclusion, my suggestion to the editor is to propose to the authors to perform minor revisions on their paper before publication in Sustainability. These minor revisions mainly concern section 3 and conclusion.

References :
--------------
. 43 research references, with no self-reference, nor non-research reference.   
. Avoid citing groups of references: [9-11], [28-30]. Or if you do it anyway, please comment more any of these references. 
. Anyway, the references are cited in the text adequately and appropriately. Particularly, they are described and relevantly presented with regard to the addressed problem.
. The bibliography of this paper is mainly composed of recent references: 29 of them are more than 10 years old, and 14 of them are less than 10 years old.

Typos / Comments / Remarks:
------------------------------------
. An academic e-mail address could be convenient for a scientific paper. 
. Line 28: Cellulases are using --> Cellulases are used
. Line 32: Lignolytic enzymes are using as bioreactors --> Lignolytic enzymes are used as bioreactors
. Line 118: 15 kv --> 15 kV
. Line 228: spp ???

Author Response

My colleague,

This research was deeply designed as much as possible to provide a safe solution for rice straw rid off to meet the necessary requirements. All the provided experiments were applied as far as possible. This research is considered a nucleus for series of researches on the bio-transformation processing and safety disposal of harmful and recalcitrant organic matters.

Thanks

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 3 Report

Please find the attached file

Comments for author File: Comments.pdf

Author Response

My colleague,

• Despite the rice straw is used in the compost preparation, this material is still burning in many countries especially the development ones. Therefore, it is very necessary to find a safe solution for rice straw rid off in condition be eco-friendly.

Thanks

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Round 2

Reviewer 3 Report

Thank you for your improvement