Assessment of Eight Faba Bean (Vicia faba L.) Cultivars for Drought Stress Tolerance through Molecular, Morphological, and Physiochemical Parameters

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

The article evaluates the tolerance of eight faba bean cultivars against drought. Morphological and biochemical characteristics differentiating those cultivars are measured. Two molecular methods were used to draw the correlation among the tested faba bean cultivars. 

The manuscript language is clear enough to understand. No grammatical issues or misspellings were spotted.

The introduction section has covered the background of faba bean cultivars and their correlation with drought stress. However, I recommend adding more information on how this research will save irrigation water, and how devastating is drought stress on faba beans in terms of yield quantity and quality. 

Materials & Methods: clearly explains the methods used for every experimental setup. Data were also statistically analyzed properly. However, several comments that need answers are added to the PDF file, to make the work more coherent.

Results: are precisely written and the illustrated findings are tightened to the results in the figures and tables. Statistical analysis is included. 

Discussion & conclusion: provide sufficient explanations for the findings and gives enough support to the conclusions. 

References: Please double-check for the missing volume, number, and page numbers. Also, please note that book titles have capital letters for each first letter of every word. 

Please go through the comments highlighted in yellow in the attached PDF file, and feel free to ask questions. 

Comments for author File: Comments.pdf

Author Response

Response to Reviewer 1 Comments

Manuscript ID: sustainability-2126665

Manuscript Title: Assessment of Eight Faba Bean (Vicia faba L.) Cultivars for Drought Stress Tolerance through Molecular, Morphological and Physiochemical Parameters.

We are very glad and thankful for the respected Reviewer 1 for evaluating our manuscript, and providing constructive comments and valuable suggestions that have helped us further improve the quality of our manuscript. All the changes and corrections made in response to the Reviewer 1 comments were corrected as track changes in the revised manuscript. We have addressed all of your queries and improved our manuscript following your suggestions as you can see in our point-to-point responses to your comments below.

 

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

The article evaluates the tolerance of eight faba bean cultivars against drought. Morphological and biochemical characteristics differentiating those cultivars are measured. Two molecular methods were used to draw the correlation among the tested faba bean cultivars. 

The manuscript language is clear enough to understand. No grammatical issues or misspellings were spotted.

The introduction section has covered the background of faba bean cultivars and their correlation with drought stress. However, I recommend adding more information on how this research will save irrigation water, and how devastating is drought stress on faba beans in terms of yield quantity and quality. 

Materials & Methods: clearly explains the methods used for every experimental setup. Data were also statistically analyzed properly. However, several comments that need answers are added to the PDF file, to make the work more coherent.

Response: Done accordingly. Thanks for the reviewer for his/ her comment.

Results: are precisely written and the illustrated findings are tightened to the results in the figures and tables. Statistical analysis is included.

Response: Thanks for the reviewer for his/ her comment. 

Discussion & conclusion: provide sufficient explanations for the findings and gives enough support to the conclusions.

Response: Thanks for the reviewer for his/ her comment. 

References: Please double-check for the missing volume, number, and page numbers. Also, please note that book titles have capital letters for each first letter of every word.

Response: Done accordingly.

Please go through the comments highlighted in yellow in the attached PDF file, and feel free to ask questions. 

Response: Done accordingly. Thanks for the reviewer for his/ her comments.

 

Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Reviewer 2 Report

Assessment of Eight Faba Bean (Vicia faba L.) Cultivars for 2 Drought Stress Tolerance through Molecular, Morphological 3 and Physiochemical Parameters.

This study evaluated 8 Egyptian faba bean cultivars for drought tolerance under three soil water regimes consisting of a well watered, moderate drought stress and severe drought stress in pots under greenhouse conditions using biochemical, physiochemical, and molecular parameters.  The study is interesting

The formatting of references throughout the text is overwhelmingly incorrect, please change.

 

Author Response

Response to Reviewer 2 Comments

Manuscript ID: sustainability-2126665

Manuscript Title: Assessment of Eight Faba Bean (Vicia faba L.) Cultivars for Drought Stress Tolerance through Molecular, Morphological and Physiochemical Parameters.

We are very glad and thankful for the respected Reviewer 2 for evaluating our manuscript, and providing constructive comments and valuable suggestions that have helped us further improve the quality of our manuscript. All the changes and corrections made in response to the Reviewer 2 comments were corrected as track changes in the revised manuscript. We have addressed all of your queries and improved our manuscript following your suggestions as you can see in our point-to-point responses to your comments below.

 

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

Assessment of Eight Faba Bean (Vicia faba L.) Cultivars for 2 Drought Stress Tolerance through Molecular, Morphological 3 and Physiochemical Parameters.

This study evaluated 8 Egyptian faba bean cultivars for drought tolerance under three soil water regimes consisting of a well watered, moderate drought stress and severe drought stress in pots under greenhouse conditions using biochemical, physiochemical, and molecular parameters.  The study is interesting

Response: Thanks for the reviewer for his/ her comment.

The formatting of references throughout the text is overwhelmingly incorrect, please change.

Response: Done accordingly.

Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Reviewer 3 Report

Manuscript ID: sustainability-2126665

Type of manuscript: Article

Title: Assessment of Eight Faba Bean (Vicia faba L.) Cultivars for Drought Stress Tolerance through Molecular, Morphological and Physiochemical Parameters

Authors: Shaimaa M. Essa , Hany A. Wafa , EL-Sayed I. Mahgoub , Abdallah A. Hassanin * , Jameel M. Al-Khayri * , Areej S. Jalal , Diaa Abd El-Moneim , Salha M. ALshamrani , Fatmah A. Safhi , Ahmed S. Eldomiaty

 

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

The objective of this study was to determine drought tolerant faba bean cultivars. The study was conducted under three soil water regimes consisting of a well watered (100% field capacity), moderate drought stress (50% field capacity) and severe drought stress (25% field capacity) in pots under greenhouse conditions using biochemical, physiochemical, and molecular parameters. Results showed that the morphological, physiochemical and molecular parameters were suitable to assess variations among the faba bean cultivars and the best response based on the proline content showed four varieties: Sakha 1, Sakha 4, Nubariya 1, and Nubariya 3. Thanks to Authors for sharing your interesting work. This research deals with important aspects in the possibility of finding new cultivars that are adapted to the environmental conditions. The results obtained provide useful insights into the practical use of selected varieties in breeding programs, especially with tolerance to drought stress. For the future it is worth to find cultivars that are also high yielding so it would be perfect to introduce selected faba bean to field experiment conducted in the same hard environmental conditions. Such experiment may constitute new research to which physiological measurements should be included such as chlorophyll fluorescence and chlorophyll content index and gas exchange parameters.

Congratulations to the authors for an excellent work. 

Manuscript need some minor adjustments, which are highlighted with comments in pdf file.

Comments for author File: Comments.pdf

Author Response

Response to Reviewer 3 Comments

Manuscript ID: sustainability-2126665

Manuscript Title: Assessment of Eight Faba Bean (Vicia faba L.) Cultivars for Drought Stress Tolerance through Molecular, Morphological and Physiochemical Parameters.

We are very glad and thankful for the respected Reviewer 2 for evaluating our manuscript, and providing constructive comments and valuable suggestions that have helped us further improve the quality of our manuscript. All the changes and corrections made in response to the Reviewer 3 comments were corrected as track changes in the revised manuscript. We have addressed all of your queries and improved our manuscript following your suggestions as you can see in our point-to-point responses to your comments below.

 

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

The objective of this study was to determine drought tolerant faba bean cultivars. The study was conducted under three soil water regimes consisting of a well watered (100% field capacity), moderate drought stress (50% field capacity) and severe drought stress (25% field capacity) in pots under greenhouse conditions using biochemical, physiochemical, and molecular parameters. Results showed that the morphological, physiochemical and molecular parameters were suitable to assess variations among the faba bean cultivars and the best response based on the proline content showed four varieties: Sakha 1, Sakha 4, Nubariya 1, and Nubariya 3. Thanks to Authors for sharing your interesting work. This research deals with important aspects in the possibility of finding new cultivars that are adapted to the environmental conditions. The results obtained provide useful insights into the practical use of selected varieties in breeding programs, especially with tolerance to drought stress. For the future it is worth to find cultivars that are also high yielding so it would be perfect to introduce selected faba bean to field experiment conducted in the same hard environmental conditions. Such experiment may constitute new research to which physiological measurements should be included such as chlorophyll fluorescence and chlorophyll content index and gas exchange parameters.

Congratulations to the authors for an excellent work. 

Manuscript need some minor adjustments, which are highlighted with comments in pdf file.

Response: Done accordingly. Thanks for the reviewer for his/ her valuable, positive and great comments.

 

Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Reviewer 4 Report

From where the soil came? What was the organic matter content?

 How many seeds were sown per pot? Finally there was 1 plant in the pot, right?

 From which development stage the water regimes have been introduced, or from very beginning?

 

At 25% field water capacity, faba bean will not germinate…

26 – it is - (4.94, 4.39, and 4.26 mmol/g fresh weight, respectively.; should be - (4.94, 4.39, and

                   4.26 mmol/g fresh weight, respectively).

34 - it is – cultivars; should be – cultivar

50 - it is – Generating cultivars cultivars that….; should be - Generating cultivars that…

51 - it is –  cultivated is the most…; should be – cultivated, is the most…

72 - it is –  , and, most importantly; should be - and most importantly

85 - it is –  2.1. Plant materials and field experiment; should be - 2.1. Plant materials and pot

experiment

91-92 - it is –  field capacity; should be - field water capacity

93 - it is –  method ofSarkar; should be - method of Sarkar

98 - it is – At 60 days ; should be - After 60 days, or At 60^th day

106 - was subjected toice to…; should be - was subjected to ice to…

141 According toDice assessment ?

147-149 - Morphological and physiochemical parameters were recorded under normal irrigation and drought conditions with all studied cultivars to study the effect of drought treatments on the performance of cultivars compared to the normal irrigation regime.

153-154, 157 - it is –  at 30 days; should be - After 30 days, or at 30th day it occurs in many other places

159 - at 60 days – After 60 days, or At 60^th day; it occurs in many other places

159 -- it is –three treatments ; should be - three factor levels

161 - it is –  field capacity; should be -- field water capacity

165 – We selected proline to evaluate cultivars for the best recovery reaction the plant did to face water shortage stress ? - …. For the best recovery reaction of the plant to water shortage stress.

170-180 - at 60 days; at 30 days

188 -189 -- it is –  at 60 days; should be - After 60 days, or At 60^th day

193 Table 3. Analysis of variance for faba bean studied traits under drought conditions.

193 table 3 - at 60 days

196 - it is – r SCoT-PCR reaction) ; should be - r SCoT-PCR reaction

205 - it is –  of 70.93% polymorphism.; should be - of 70.93% polymorphism.

207 - it is – (Figure 1 and Table 4) ; should be – (Figure 2 and Table 4)

215 - it is – of of eight Faba beancultivars; should be – of eight Faba bean cultivars

219 – it is - of bands; polymorphic; should be – of bands, polymorphic

228 - it is – Table 5, The highest similarity ; should be - Table 6, The highest similarity

230 - it is – …larity (0.732) was between Sakha 3 and Giza 716 (Table 6); should be - …larity (0,714, 0,718, 0.732) was between Sakha 4, Sakha 1, Sakha 3 and Giza 716 (Table 6).

238 - it is –  The second cluster included Sakha 1, Sakha 3, Sakha 4 and Akba 3300.; should be - The second cluster included Sakha 3, Sakha 4, Akba 3300 and Sakha 1.

249 - it is –Therefore, these parameters – what parameters?

252 - it is –  waterlogging; should be – water logging

254 - This reduction may be due to decreased photosynthesis, growth of the plant, expansion, and the division of plant cells [11,12]. – powtórzone zdanie z 60-61

258 - it is – [24], Ammar; should be - [24]. Ammar

260-261 Measuring of proline contents of faba bean leaves cultivars suggested that proline  accumulations increased under drought conditions and decreased with the normal water  regime.

Repeating - 272 - These findings revealed that faba bean leaves' proline content increased with drought stress and decreased under normal water conditions.

273 - it is – In other plants; should be – Also in other plants

280 - it is – stress. [37], Safflower [38] and Sesame…; should be - stress [37], sunflower [38] and sesame

319- it is – field capacity treatment; should be - field water capacity

359 - it is –  Springer: 2022 ; should be - Springer: 2022

366 - it is –  B144-B153; should be - 144-153  ?

389- it is – 33 (45B), 464-473.429. ; should be - 33 (45B), 464-473. ?

394 - it is –  New Delhi, 2009; pp. 617-624.; should be - New Delhi, 2009; 617-624.

408 - it is –  2010, 9(1). ; should be -2010, 9(1) pages?.

473 - it is –  New Age International: 2005; should be - New Age International: 2005 sum of pages

476 - it is –  Springer: 1991; should be - Springer: 1991

479- it is –  Springer: 2005 ; should be - Springer: 2005

 

 

 

 

 

Comments for author File: Comments.pdf