Future Emission Scenario Effects on Melon Cultivars (Cucumis melo L.) in the Brazilian Semi-Arid Region

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

The current study entitled “Climate change effects on cultivars of melon (Cucumis melo L.) in a semiarid region of Brazil” is good. For a better understanding in-depth, it is need for time to work on this topic. Furthermore, achieving potential benefits by using current technology depends on extensive research work for more exploration. Although the experiment is well organized, I suggest a major revision due to the following deficiencies.

Major Concerns

Title

• Climate change is a very broader term. Please precise the title of the manuscript showing the exact point of study.

Abstract

• The systematic abstract is missing. Introduce the need for study in 1-2 lines.
• Please give a clear-cut point problem source as a problem statement that is tackled in the current study.
• Give a logical reason for selecting the current strategy, i.e., climate change.
• Quantitative data is also essential to support your conclusion. I request that the authors carefully check and rewrite the results part of the abstract. Please provide a percentage increase or decrease in the result part.
• Please provide a definitive conclusion withdrawn through research in a single line.
• Please conclude with a statement that shows a knowledge gap covered, potential beneficiaries, and specific recommendations.
• Give future perspective in a single line. At least declare one best result.
• As per standard suggestions, please avoid using title words as keywords.

Introduction

• Please follow the title in the introduction section, i.e., Climate, factors affecting climate, melon importance, semiarid areas of brazil and their impacts, knowledge gap, hypothesis, and aims.
• Also, provide a novelty statement at the end. What new things have authors done or correlated in this research compared to old ones?
• Would you please give a single line about the knowledge gap your research has covered along with the SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and time-specific) hypothesis statement?

Material and methods

• It is ok.

Results

• I request that the authors they can provide parallel plots for a better understanding of the data.
• Give a percentage increase or decrease of studied attributes.
• Also, explain the positive and negative correlation of studied attributes with applied treatments.
• Chord diagrams can also be made to clear the percentage contribution of each studied attribute.

Discussion

• Please provide a definite mechanism associated with the results. The discussion part is fragile.
• Please incorporate at least 3-4 paragraphs showing the principal mechanism for which authors got such results.

Conclusion

• The conclusion is so much descriptive. Please provide a conclusive conclusion.
• Add the targeted beneficiary audience who will get benefit from this research.
• Also, give clear-cut recommendations
• Give future prospective regarding this research.

Author Response

Dear Revisor

We appreciate your suggestions for improving the manuscript.

We adjust the title, abstract, and keywords. Lines 2-27.

We apply the introduction and add the study hypothesis. Lines 61-73.

We add the percentage increase or decrease to the Results.

We have improved the discussion and conclusions in lines: 342-371 and 416-429.

Other changes requested by other reviewers and the editor are highlighted in red in the text.

We appreciate your recommendation to publish our manuscript.

Best regards,

Francisco Vanies da Silva Sá, D.Sc. & Professor

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 2 Report

The publication entitled Climate change effects on cultivars of melon (Cucumis melo L.) in a semiarid region of Brazil, is in line with recent research trends on climate change. The authors analysed expected changes and aspects of melon cultivation in relation to two climate scenarios. This work is valuable because of the need for crop adaptation to climate change. However, I have several comments that need to be taken into account by the authors:

·       In the abstract, Latin names such as Cucumis melo L should be written in italics.

·       In line 31, you refer to data from 2017...isn't more recent data available?

·       Please avoid the phrase, "we" e.g. lines 69, 266, 2699. Instead, try to use the impersonal form.

·       The experiment lacks specific information regarding hydration. For example, what irrigation dose was used and determined on what basis? Were any calculations made?

·       If you are reporting the results of different parameters (temperature, humidity, kc) for the current conditions and two different climate scenarios, it would be worth showing whether they differ statistically significantly. Please consider performing statistical tests showing whether the increase/decrease in certain parameters is statistically significant.

·       Line 216 states: , "For the pessimistic scenario (A2), an even more significant reduction was observed in the crop cycle, which was 18 days (25.35%), being 4 days in the initial stage, 2 days in the growth stage, 6 days in the intermediate stage and 6 days in the final stage." On what basis was the word significant used? Have any statistical tests been carried out?

·       The discussion is too short. Please elaborate significantly in it on how melon cultivation can be adapted to climate change? What needs to be done? What treatments should be applied, etc.?

·       Furthermore, the discussion lacks references to other studies on climate change forecasting. Do your results overlap with these?

·       I would also suggest rewording the conclusions section and presenting the main conclusions of your research in the form of a bullet point list.

Author Response

Dear Revisor

We appreciate your suggestions for improving the manuscript.

We put the species name in Italics.

  We have updated the data for 2021 in the row in row 35.

In scientific writing in English, it is recommended to use active voice, especially in the introduction and discussion items.

There was irrigation only in the current scenario, in the other scenarios are projections for the year 2100 obtained by the Providing Regional Climates for Impact Studies (PRECIS) climatological model. The data are projections for the year 2100, it is not possible to apply ANOVA and test of means. Thus, we remove the significant term.

We have improved the discussion and conclusions in lines: 342-371 and 416-429.

Other changes requested by other reviewers and the editor are highlighted in red in the text.

We appreciate your recommendation to publish our manuscript.

Best regards,

Francisco Vanies da Silva Sá, D.Sc. & Professor

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 3 Report

Melon is a world-widely distributed and considered a healthy fruit, while the yield and quality are largely affected by the climate. Two varieties were selected to explore the impacts of climate change on the development and evapotranspiration in the Brazilian semiarid region. Notably, the authors declared the “Orange County” hybrid was more sensitive to climate change and more susceptible to production losses.

1. In Line 14, the species name needs to be Italic.

2. In the Materials and Methods section, why were these two varieties selected to perform, and whether these varieties had reported abiotic stress response previously?

3. In Line 78, the authors revealed the Honeydew melon (Cucumis melo L.), the “Orange County” hybrid, which belongs to the Cantalupensis group. Several refs should be cited to prove these claims. As well as in Line 87.

4. In Line 191, to verify the influence of climate change on crop water consumption and development, changes in air temperature and relative humidity predicted for the year 2100 were simulated. The authors should describe why 2100 was selected to analyze.

Author Response

Dear Revisor

We appreciate your suggestions for improving the manuscript.

We put the species name in Italics.

Added information about cultivars in Materials and Methods:

“The melon hybrids used in the experiment are noble melon cultivars grown in Brazil for export purposes, belonging to the inodorus and cantalupensis groups [15,16]. We evaluate the Honeydew melon (Cucumis melo L.) in the first experiment. The “Orange County” hybrid belongs to the inodorus Naud botanical variety [15]. It has round fruits with smooth cream rind and dark orange pulp with a small internal cavity, weighing on average from 1.5 to 1.8 kg. We grew the melon on mulch (black-white polyethylene film, with the white face up), previously placed on ridges, prepared by harrowing, using 2.0 x 0.3 m spacing between plants, totaling 16,667 plants per hectare. The crop cycle lasted 71 days, and harvests were performed at 55, 61, and 71 days after transplantation [17].

In the second experiment, we evaluate the Galia melon. The “Néctar” hybrid belongs to the cantalupensis Naud botanical variety [16]. It has round fruits, netted rind, green pulp, and an average weight of 0.8-1.2 kg. The spacing between plants was 2.0 x 0.4 m, totaling 12,500 plants per hectare. The crop was conducted on mulch (same as the first experiment), previously placed on the ridges, which were prepared with plowing and harrowing. The crop cycle lasted 61 days, counted from transplanting, and the harvests were carried out at 54 and 61 days after transplantation [18,19].”

The Providing Regional Climates for Impact Studies (PRECIS) climatological model makes projections for the year 2100.

Other changes requested by other reviewers and the editor are highlighted in red in the text.

We appreciate your recommendation to publish our manuscript.

Best regards,

Francisco Vanies da Silva Sá, D.Sc. & Professor

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Round 2

Reviewer 1 Report

Accepted as it stands