Influence of Substrate Composition and Container Size on the Growth of Tissue Culture Propagated Apple Rootstock Plants
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
There was a great research effort. Experiments were not repeated. Materials and methods do not indicate the number of replications. The interaction between different containers was not considered as they were treated as separate experiments and this reduces the importance of your conclusions.
The manuscripts need some more attention and more details are needed in the Materials and Methods part, for example, replications, experimental design, and the proper statistical analysis,.....etc.
Author Response
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Author Response File: 
Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 2 Report
Dear Authors,
The manuscript is well-structured, has a great flow of ideas, and brings important information to the field.
The manuscript has to be improved as follows:
- tab 1, 2, 3, 4- standards errors to be added;
- 3, 5 - bars to be added (standards errors);
- review image quality;
- line 49 - (MAFRA, 2020)
Author Response
Please see the attachment.
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 3 Report
The paper is interesting for the producers who want to know which substrate is more appropriate for hardening of tissue culture plants. The authors need to enrich introduction and discussion with relevant papers about apple and acclimatization. For example the authors may address to the following papers:
Hajnajari H, Chashnidel B, Vahdati K, Ebrahimi M, Nabipour A, Fallahi E (2012) Heritability of morphological traits in apple early-ripening full-sib and half-sib offspring and its potential use for assisted selection. HortScience. 47(3):328–333.
Maleki Asayesh, Vahdati K, Aliniaeifard S, Askari N (2017) Enhancement of ex vitro acclimation of walnut plantlets through modification of stomatal characteristics in vitro. Scientia Horticulturae. 220: 114-121.
Behrooz A, Vahdati K, Rejali F, Lotfi M, Sarikhani S and Leslie CA (2019) Arbuscular mycorrhiza and plant growth-promoting bacteria alleviate drought stress in walnut. HortScience 54(6): 1087–1092.
Asayesh ZM, Vahdati K, Aliniaeifard S (2017) Investigation of physiological components involved in low water conservation capacity of in vitro walnut plants. Scientia Horticulturae. 224: 1-7.
Vahdati K., Sarikhani S., Arab M.M., Leslie C.A., Dandekar A.M., Aletà N., Bielsa, B., Gradziel T.M., Montesinos Á., Rubio-Cabetas M.J., et al. (2021) Advances in rootstock breeding of nut trees: Objectives and strategies in plants, 10, 2234.
Vahdati K, Leslie C, Zamani Z and McGranahan G (2004) Rooting and acclimatization of in-vitro grown shoots from three mature Persian walnut cultivars. HortScience. 39(2): 324-327.
Author Response
Please see the attachment.
Author Response File: 
Author Response.docx
