Development of Peach Flower Buds under Low Winter Chilling Conditions

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Review about to very specific objective, ‘the development of peach blossom buds in conditions of little winter cold’, which highlights the lack of related information.

I think that the work would improve a lot if in each bibliographic citation the authors distinguished the species to which it is referring (prunus spp, apricot tree, cherry, etc. and their varieties) and, where appropriate, the typology (according to chill requirements high, medium, low, etc) of the peach varieties.

They should also expand the information and discussion about photoperiod and its effect, since their values are very different between temperate and subtropical – tropical areas.

Authors should increase the information presented in section 6.2 ‘enviromental factors’ (lines 428 and following), which I am thinking is improved.

The writing of paragraph of lines 110 to 114 should be changed, as it is very arguable: I agree with the authors that 'in subtropical and tropical conditions, the harvesting period can be advanced to early spring' (line 110), but I do not think it is due to shortening the flowering - maturation period, but to the advancement of the flowering season in the subtropical and tropical zones (lines 93 and 94). I am thinking that the varieties on which the citation is based are not phenologically comparable.

Line 87 and 88: change ‘Figure b’ to ‘Figure 1 b’ and ‘Figure c’ to ‘Figure 1 c’

Line 95. Figure 2 is not related to the call in text, since it refers to ‘Shoot and bud development’. It should be cited in the lines 104 to 109 paragraph.

Author Response

We are pleased to enclose a revised version of our manuscript. 

The writing of paragraph of lines 110 to 114 should be changed, as it is very arguable: I agree with the authors that 'in subtropical and tropical conditions, the harvesting period can be advanced to early spring' (line 110), but I do not think it is due to shortening the flowering - maturation period, but to the advancement of the flowering season in the subtropical and tropical zones (lines 93 and 94). I am thinking that the varieties on which the citation is based are not phenologically comparable.

Response: The sentence has been rewritten, including the advancement of the flowering season as affecting the harvesting period (Lines 112-114).

Line 87 and 88: change ‘Figure b’ to ‘Figure 1 b’ and ‘Figure c’ to ‘Figure 1 c’

* “Figure b” and “Figure c” have been corrected to “Figure 1 b” and to “Figure 1 c” respectively (Line 88)

Line 95. Figure 2 is not related to the call in text, since it refers to ‘Shoot and bud development’. It should be cited in the lines 104 to 109 paragraph.

 *“Figure 2” has been cited in line 106

*The complete version with the changes of the other reviewers and the editor was sent directly to the responsible editorr

We do appreciate the comprehensive reviews that have clearly contributed to improve our paper over our original submission.

Reviewer 2 Report

Interesting summation of environment and its affect on fruit tree flowering primarily stone fruit.  Some English grammar needs clarified.  Most of my edits are that but I do have comments that need addressed.  The title is somewhat misleading as I expected to see much more discussion about peach. This was more of a literature review with peach mentioned off and on.  So I would expect the title to be changed to something that suggests a review and not a scientific study.  In addition, there is a high percentage of the citations I am familiar with that have misspelled authors names.  So recheck the citations for accuracy.  

Please find attached a pdf file with my kind suggestions and corrections.

Comments for author File: Comments.pdf

Author Response

Suggestions and corrections of Reviewer 2:

* The sentence has been corrected as suggested, to “In the future, horticulturalists and scientists have to face several challenges” (Line 26)

*“(Prunus persica L. Bastch)” has been corrected to “[Prunus persica (L.) Bastch] (Line 33).

*“around” has been corrected to “produce on”, and “in” has been corrected to “from” (Lines 34-38).

* “is causing” has been changed to “has caused” (Line 39).

* “productions” has been corrected to “production” (Line 40).

* “next years” has been changed to “future years” (Line 44)

* The sentence has been corrected as suggested (Line 46).

* The sentence has been corrected as suggested (Line 49-51).

* “accumulated” has been changed to “accumulation” (Line 59)

* To avoid confusion, “to the agro-climatic zoning” has been removed (Lines 68).

* “are” has been corrected to “is” (Line 69).

* “in” has been corrected to “under” (Line 71).

* The sentence has been corrected as suggested (Line 71-73)

* “other” has been included (Line 75).

* “in” has been corrected to “under” (Line 76).

* “producing” has been corrected to “production” (Line 76).

* “that” has been removed (Line 83)

* The sentence has been corrected as suggested (Line 92-93)

* “remains a vegetative” has been corrected to “remains in a vegetative” (Line 104).

* “last” has been corrected to “lasts” (Line 112).

* “Prunus sp” has been corrected to “Prunus spp.” (Line 147).

* The sentence has been corrected to “is an essential protein located” (Line 163).

* The sentence has been corrected as suggested (Line 166)

* “,” has been included (Line 180). * “high reduction” has been changed to “large reduction” (Line 184)

* The sentence has been corrected as suggested (Line 212).

* The sentence has been corrected as suggested (Line 216-221).

* “it can be considered” has been corrected to “is thought to be one” (Line 226)

* The sentence has been corrected as suggested (Line 235-236).

* The sentence has been rephrased (Line 240-243).

* The sentence has been corrected to “More than 70 genes are involved”

(Line 249).

* “Prunus sp” has been corrected to “Prunus spp.” (Line 258).

* “anda” has been corrected to “and” (Line 260).
The Jimenez’s references have been include in both the text (Lines 273) and the list (Lines 834-840). Due to inclusion of new references, there was changes in citations of the references from reference 126.

* “There are evidences” has been changed to “There is evidence” (Line 276)

* “involved in the flower” has been changed to “involved in flower” (Line 316).

* The sentence has been rephrased (Line 322).

* “Prunus sp” has been corrected to “Prunus spp.” (Line 361).

* “vanished” has been corrected to “vanished” (Line 362).

* “be” has been removed (line 364).

* “new vegetative” has been changed to “multiple vegetative” (Line 375).

* “dwarf” has been changed to “dwarfing” (Line 390).

* “those compounds that” has been changed to “some” (Line 399)

* “reducing growth” has been changed to “thereby reducing growth” (Line 401).

* The paragraph has been corrected as suggested (Line 404-408).

* The sentence has been corrected as suggested (Line 412-414).

* The paragraph has been corrected as suggested (Line 418-420).

* “The temperature affects” has been corrected to “Temperature affects” (Line 442).

* To avoid confusion, “and anticipated” has been removed (Line 445).

* “soften the damages” has been changed to “soften damage” (Line 448).

* “Prunus sp” has been corrected to “Prunus spp.” (Line 470).

* “environmental” has been corrected to “environmental signals” (line 471).

* The paragraph has been corrected as suggested (Line 476-484).

* “so far” has been removed (Line 491).

* The sentence has been rephrased to “The process of flower bud formation in peach differs between areas depending on the climatic conditions.” (Lines 493-495).

* “great” has been changed to “significant” (line 497)

* “we” has been changed to “horticulturalist and scientists” (Line 506).

* The citations have been rechecked and corrected (Lines 520-992).

* We do appreciate the comprehensive reviews that have clearly contributed to improve our paper over our original submission.