Testing a Bovine Blood-Derived Compound as Iron Supply on Cucumis sativus L.

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Thank you for correcting the article according to my guidelines.

Author Response

We wish to thank the Reviewer for appreciating our revised version of the paper.

 

Reviewer 2 Report

 Thank you for correcting the article according to my guidelines.

Author Response

We wish to thank the Reviewer for appreciating our revised version of the paper.

 

Reviewer 3 Report

Thank you for correcting the article according to my guidelines.

Author Response

We wish to thank the Reviewer for appreciating our revised version of the paper. We also checked for minor spell errors in the text, as suggested.

 

This manuscript is a resubmission of an earlier submission. The following is a list of the peer review reports and author responses from that submission.

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Line 191 seven replication ? or six plants ? Table 2. You wrote n=6

Include standard error in Figures 1 and 2

Figure 1 and 2: DAT What does it mean?  DAT days after transplanting. Include 

Line 113  HEPES What does it mean?

Line 116 CCK growth chamber What does it mean?

Line 124 The treatments were applied only once? Why?   

Figure 1. Why the SPAD measurement was made on young and old leaves. Explain and include in material and methods. Define young and old leaves. Old leaves fully mature? Explain.  

Line 129- SPAD index variation. Is it a difference? A relation ???Explain better.

Line 210 Why SPAD index variation was measure in the node? Explain and include in material and methods.

Table 2. Why do you use different p-values to different significance? P<0.1, p<0.05…? Explain

Figure 3. Why in figure 3 n is different for figures A and C (n=6) compared with figures B and D (n=3)?

Explain better (with the support of reference) the contribution of Fe-heme to the root exudates. It is not clear.

Less replication. 

 

Reviewer 2 Report

Interesting and very potential applied research for agronomical practices, especially sustainable agriculture. The paper describes well enough the benefits in iron deficiency in cucumber for Fe-Heme. In my opinion the research should be modified after several english and typo mistakes (see attached file), as well as I suggest authors explain or try to explain some of the results they are discussing (see Discussion section in the attached file).

 

Comments for author File: Comments.pdf

Reviewer 3 Report

The work presented for review concerns an innovative method of plant nutrition with iron. The use of fertilizers obtained from organic waste gives new perspectives for providing plants with this nutrient, so the topic of the article is innovative and the most justified. The work is written in the correct language and contains all the elements required to admit the article to print. However, in the opinion of the reviewer, drawing conclusions about the usefulness of the fertilizer in plant cultivation on the basis of the analyzes carried out by the authors, including the SPAD index, is quite a simplification, the more so as the tables presented show that the absorption of iron from the tested fertilizer is low compared to other fertilizers. There are no conclusions / summaries in the article, which seems very important. In the introduction, the methodological sentences (verse 54) should be avoided, pH also does not appear in the plural as pHs (misspelling). The discussion should include the elaboration of the elements that were marked in the work and not be a duplication of the introduction.