Coffee Leaf Rust in Brazil: Historical Events, Current Situation, and Control Measures

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

The topic of this review paper sounds interesting, however, it needs a major revision to be reviewed again before publication.

Comments for authors have been provided as an attachment.

Comments for author File: Comments.pdf

Author Response

Londrina, December 22, 2021

Dear Reviewer,

Please find attached a new version of the manuscript entitled “Coffee leaf rust in Brazil: historical events, current situation, and control measures” with the major revisions requested. This is a review article for publication in Agronomy: Special Issue "Current Status and Management of Coffee Rust Disease", and was coauthored by Carlos Henrique Siqueira de Carvalho, Juliana Costa de Rezende Abrahão, Edson Ampélio Pozza, José Braz Matiello, Saulo Roque de Almeida, Lucas Bartelega and Deila Magna dos Santos Botelho.

               This is a resubmission with the reviewers' comments. All the sentence revision approach to the manuscript were performed. We inserted the illustration of disease symptoms, economic impact data, data related to the phylogenetic tree of the fungus, as well as the bases for the fungus races. The caption of Figure 1 was reformulated, photos and references were inserted. The changes in the manuscript were highlighted using colored text (blue color).

               We do not highlight the disease in other countries, and also nor mention other coffee diseases, in order to maintain the scope of the manuscript in accordance with what was requested by the invited editor of this Special Issue (Dr. Maria Céu Lavado da Silva). These themes were addressed in other manuscripts of this special edition.

This work brings together researchers from some of the main research institutions working with coffee rust in Brazil (Institute of Rural Development of Paraná – IAPAR-EMATER, IDR-Paraná; Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation -Embrapa Café; Agricultural Research Corporation of Minas Gerais –Epamig; Federal University of Lavras -UFLA Procafé Foundation). The information described in this manuscript are based in scientific and practice knowledge, and majority of these information have not yet been published.

Thank you for the opportunity to improve and resubmit this manuscript.

Sincerely,

Gustavo Hiroshi Sera, on behalf of the authors

Reviewer 2 Report

The review is informative and useful for researchers and coffee growers in other places. However it can be better and her I give some suggestions:

1. There are no any illustration of symptoms of the disease like pictures of infected fields or single plant.
2. There are not any economic impact data in terms of money lost because of the disease in years from 1970 to present.
3. There is mention of one fungicide used against the rust. Some pictures of the spray method will be useful.
4. There is no mention of other coffee diseases. For example, I like to see a pie chart with all the diseases each in percentage for its impact on the coffee in Brazil.
5. There is not any mention of the fungus and where it belongs in the phylogeny tree. If available from other sources, I suggest being used or referred to.
6. They mention about races of the fungus (45 races) but did not mention the bases for those races.
7. In Figure 1. Average incidence (highlighted with yellow is not clear to me what it means. Does it mean percentage of infected trees in the region or?
8. There is none or little about the disease in other countries and how they manage it.

Author Response

Londrina, December 22, 2021

Dear Reviewer,

Please find attached a new version of the manuscript entitled “Coffee leaf rust in Brazil: historical events, current situation, and control measures” with the major revisions requested. This is a review article for publication in Agronomy: Special Issue "Current Status and Management of Coffee Rust Disease", and was coauthored by Carlos Henrique Siqueira de Carvalho, Juliana Costa de Rezende Abrahão, Edson Ampélio Pozza, José Braz Matiello, Saulo Roque de Almeida, Lucas Bartelega and Deila Magna dos Santos Botelho.

               This is a resubmission with the reviewers' comments. All the sentence revision approach to the manuscript were performed. We inserted the illustration of disease symptoms, economic impact data, data related to the phylogenetic tree of the fungus, as well as the bases for the fungus races. The caption of Figure 1 was reformulated, photos and references were inserted. The changes in the manuscript were highlighted using colored text (blue color).

               We do not highlight the disease in other countries, and also nor mention other coffee diseases, in order to maintain the scope of the manuscript in accordance with what was requested by the invited editor of this Special Issue (Dr. Maria Céu Lavado da Silva). These themes were addressed in other manuscripts of this special edition.

This work brings together researchers from some of the main research institutions working with coffee rust in Brazil (Institute of Rural Development of Paraná – IAPAR-EMATER, IDR-Paraná; Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation -Embrapa Café; Agricultural Research Corporation of Minas Gerais –Epamig; Federal University of Lavras -UFLA Procafé Foundation). The information described in this manuscript are based in scientific and practice knowledge, and majority of these information have not yet been published.

Thank you for the opportunity to improve and resubmit this manuscript.

Sincerely,

Gustavo Hiroshi Sera, on behalf of the authors

Author Response File: Author Response.docx