Spatial Proximity of ‘Ataulfo’ to ‘Haden’ Cultivar Increases Mango Yield and Decreases Incidence of Nubbins
, Víctor Rosas-Guerrero 2,*, Lorena Alemán-Figueroa 2,*, R. Carlos Almazán-Núñez 3, Juan Violante-González 4 and José Gabriel Kuk-Dzul 5Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
In their manuscript, Lucas-Garcia et al, present how the mixed plantations of ‘Ataulfo’ and ‘Haden’ mango cultivars can help towards increasing mango yield by decreasing the incidence of nubbins. They present interesting data in which the occurrence of ‘Haden’ mango trees within a 10m distance from ‘Ataulfo’ trees can lead to significantly higher production of commercial fruits from ‘Ataulfo’ mangoes thus higher yield and higher total income. This is a significant result in a sense that it can help farmers and mango growers to organize their plantation designs better and succeed better yields in the future. Experimental design is sufficient and statistical analysis of the results is appropriate and adequate. The article presents only some minor flaws.
Lines 98-101; this is an introductory piece and should be included in the Introduction Section rather than the Materials and Methods section.
English should be checked throughout the manuscript as there are some minor errors/misspellings.
Authors state in their Introduction section (lines 67-69) that they expect the quality of commercial fruits to be higher in ‘Ataulfo” trees located near pollen donors. Yet in their Results section they show that size and weight of commercial fruits (constituting quality) did not significantly change (which is a bit contradictory from what they say in the Introduction section). Only fruit weight was increased with distance in 2020 and decreased in 2019 which is not conclusive. Practically they show that quality was unaffected (as stated in lines 187-188). Is there an explanation why quality was not improved, as expected, in their sampling orchards despite the mixed ‘Ataulfo’ and ‘Haden’ trees grown in close proximity?
Author Response
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Author Response File: 
Author Response.docx
Reviewer 2 Report
Page 1, line 18: …worldwide, and ‘Ataulfo’ is one of the most popular cultivars. However,…
Page 1, line 23: …years, the present study evaluated…
Page 1, line 24: …50 m away…
Page 1, line 26: … clearly indicated that….
Page 1, line 30: …demand on mangos of this…
Page 1, line 36: …[1,2] and Mexico is the main exporter [3]…
Page 1, line 37: …cultivars cultivated in Mexico…
Page 1, line 47: …producers is planting trees…
Page 2, line 50: …increases…
Page 2, line 51: …and also in…
Page 2, line 52: …donor’s…
Page 2, line 53: … in order to increase…
Page 2, line 55: …with another cultivar…
Page 2, line 82: …Table S1)…
Page 3, line 98: …Mangifera indica L…
Page 3, line 103: Do you believe that if you had tested two different donor cultivars with ‘Ataulfo’ it could make more sound your hypothesis regarding a delayed self-incompatibility and exclude other causes? What was the planting system of the orchard and the planting distances?
Page 4, Results: Why aren’t presented the results from the orchards without ‘Haden’ ?
Page 6, line 194: …of fruits (χ2…
Page 8, line 233: …clearly showed…
Page 8, line 238: The temperature is the same for both sampling years?
Page 9, line 240: …temperature had influenced…
Page 9, line 241: …expected differences to be found in nubbins…
Page 9, line 242: …Therefore, our findings support the hypothesis…
Page 9, line 243: …of nubbins must be mainly…
Page 9, line 247: …we demonstrated…
Page 9, line 249: …have also found…
Page 9, line 252: The non-clear improvement of the quality characteristics of the fruits is not satisfactorily explained.
Page 9, line 263: …increased…
Page 9, line 270: …and the total…
Page 9, line Conclusions: Based on your results can you propose a certain planting design of the donor cultivar among the trees of the main mango cultivar ‘Ataulfo’?
Page 10, line 328: …parthenocarpic…
Author Response
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Author Response File: Author Response.docx
Reviewer 3 Report
The manuscript titled “Spatial proximity of ‘Ataulfo’ to ‘Haden’ cultivar increases mango yield and decreases incidence of nubbins” deals with a current topic that brings novelty and useful information for agricultural practice. According to achieved result of this study, monitoring of spatial proximity of mango cultivars seems to be important. Especially it is important at present, with an emphasis on the production of quality food for as large a population as possible. The manuscript is characterized by an extensive and clear research. The chosen experimental design and statistical methods are relatively simple, but all the more so clear and well processed. Nevertheless, I have some well-meaning comments about it that could increase its quality:
Line 82: Tabla – correctly Table
Lines 102 – 105: biological material should be specified (manufacturer or its origin)
Lines 107 – 117: it is necessary to cite the used methodology
Line 122: it is necessary to cite the used methodology; used device should be specified (production name, company name, city, country of origin)
Lines 125 – 129: it is necessary to cite the used methodology
Line 140: it is necessary to cite the used methodology
I kindly recommend the authors to unify the format t/ha versus t ha -1
Author Response
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Author Response File: Author Response.docx
