The Concepts of Seed Germination Rate and Germinability: A Re-Evaluation for Cool-Season Grasses

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Dear Authors,

The manuscript entitled "The concepts of seed germination rate and germinability: a re-evaluation for cool-season grasses" by Wagdi S. Ghaleb, Lina Q. Ahmed, Marie-Hélène Wagner, Annie Eprinchard-Ciesla, Wendy E. Olivares-Rodríguez, Cédric Perrot, Karine Chenu, Mark Norton, Abraham J. Escobar-Gutiérrez deals with very important issues, namely the possibility to express the full germination capacity at low temperature of seedlots of three species of cool-season grasses. The research presented by the authors proved, however, that in the case of most of the accessions analyzed, the temperature does not affect the germinability of their seeds, but only extends the time necessary for their germination. At the same time, the authors questioned the usefulness of the ISTA regulations for the assessment of the parameters of grass seed germination at suboptimal temperatures, which, taking into account their results, seems to me a valid suggestion. The work is written correctly in terms of language and the results are presented in a clear form. I only have doubts about the methodology of seed germination. Have the seeds been sanitized? Have there been any cases of rotten, mold-infested seeds with such a long period of germination? I am curious if the seedlings obtained from seeds germinated at low temperature were correct and capable of further development. It is a pity that the authors did not assess the vigor of these seedlings and did not compare it with the vigor of seedlings obtained at the temperature of 22^oC. I also have a suggestion for Figures 1-6 whether it would be better, instead of 4 lines presenting data for 4 repetitions, make one as an average and give for each point standard deviation?

Author Response

Please see the attachment

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 2 Report

I provide my comments in the attached file. My main concern is that the authors have not mentioned no information about the status of dormancy in the seeds. Seed germination response to temperature can change during dormancy releasing in seeds with nondeep physiological dormancy: for example during seed storage.  

Comments for author File: Comments.pdf

Author Response

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Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Round 2

Reviewer 2 Report

The manuscript is well revised and the responses were convincing. There is only one thing that needs to be corrected. In the response file to the reviewers, it was mentioned that the seeds were stratified before the experiment. This issue should be mentioned in the materials and methods. Add the stratification treatment and you must emphasis in all the text that you used nondormant seeds. Determination of cardinal temperature must be done on nondormant seeds. 

Author Response

Please see attached file

Author Response File: Author Response.docx