Bread Wheat Productivity in Response to Humic Acid Supply and Supplementary Irrigation Mode in Three Northwestern Coastal Sites of Egypt

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Wheat is one of the most important cereal crops in the world, it is a significant source of protein and energy, and is usually eaten in the form of bread obtained from flour milled from the grain of this grain. The yield and quality of its grain depend on many factors, including man-made fertilization. On the other hand , the water , to be precise its shortage, is a factor limiting agricultural production. Especially that recent years have been marked by climate changes caused by global warming, and this results in the occurrence of various weather anomalies (including reduced precipitation and thus droughts). Therefore, the authors conducted interesting studies that fit into the current trends in agriculture.

The authors conducted accurate and authentic field experiments, marked and calculated the values of many wheat traits, and analyzed the obtained results statistically. The conclusions drawn on the basis of the obtained research results are true. 

Here are some recommendations for the authors:

Materials and Methods

Rows 152-154 - Perhaps newer information on the classification of the soils on which the experiments were carried out should be viewed (IUSS Working Group WRB, 2015. World Reference Base for Soil Resources 2014. Update 2015, World Soil Resources Reports No. 106. FAO, Rome).

References - The work is supported by well-chosen literature, but many of them are not recent (older than 5 years). Please update them.

Please provide journal abbreviations in the Reference list.

Please write the titles of the publication as in the sentence, not as proper names,

for example - line 684: Effects of Genotype, Growing Season and Nitrogen Level on Gluten Protein Assembly of Durum Wheat Grown under Mediterranean Conditions.

In my opinion it should be: Effects of genotype, growing season and nitrogen level on gluten protein assembly of durum wheat grown under mediterranean conditions.

row 608 - make a space after the last name

row 626, 687, 706, 719 - nazwy gatunków należy pisać kursywą; proszę również sprawdzić w tekście pracy, species names should be written in italics; please also check in the manuscript

Author Response

Materials and Methods

Rows 152-154 - Perhaps newer information on the classification of the soils on which the experiments were carried out should be viewed (IUSS Working Group WRB, 2015. World Reference Base for Soil Resources 2014. Update 2015, World Soil Resources Reports No. 106. FAO, Rome).

Re: We followed the reviewer's advice (IUSS Working Group WRB. World Reference Base for Soil Resources 2014, Update 2015. International Soil Classification System for Naming Soils and Creating Legends for Soil Maps. World Soil Resources Reports No. 106. FAO, Rome)

References - The work is supported by well-chosen literature, but many of them are not recent (older than 5 years). Please update them.

Re: These sources were utilized to back up the discussion.

Please provide journal abbreviations in the Reference list.

Re: In the Reference list, we done journal abbreviations.

Please write the titles of the publication as in the sentence, not as proper names, for example - line 684: Effects of Genotype, Growing Season and Nitrogen Level on Gluten Protein Assembly of Durum Wheat Grown under Mediterranean Conditions. In my opinion it should be: Effects of genotype, growing season and nitrogen level on gluten protein assembly of durum wheat grown under mediterranean conditions.

Re: In the references 10, 45, 51, 62, 69, and 70, the adjustment has been completed.

row 608 - make a space after the last name

Re: In reference 11, we added a space after the last name (line 632).

row 626, 687, 706, 719 - nazwy gatunków należy pisać kursywą; proszę również sprawdzić w tekście pracy, species names should be written in italics; please also check in the manuscript

Re: The names of the plant species have been written in italics in the references chapter, during lines 631, 635, 656, 679, 683, 721, 728, 739, and752.  

Reviewer 2 Report

This work analyzes the: “Bread wheat productivity (and yield components) in response to humic acid (HA) supply and 2 supplementary irrigation mode in three northwestern coastal 3 sites of Egypt”

 The main conclusions presented in this manuscript are that:

1.       Drought stress drastically reduced all traits registered in all factors studied compared with normal conditions.

2.       HA significantly promoted all studied traits under drought stress, which is greatest with applying 60 kg HA ha-1 above all at Al-Qasr site

3.       Grain yield significantly correlated with water and precipitation use efficiency as well as most studied traits under normal and drought stress conditions.

In my opinion the work is complete. The sample size is appropriate, the experimental design follows the typical experimentation in interaction analysis, the statistical analysis is sound and well described. In my opinion, the main defect of this manuscript is the lack of originality.

It simply confirms what has been widely reported in the literature, about the effects of fertilization, drought, and environment on wheat performance and about the interactions among these three factors.

Anyway, I think the paper could be of interest to the readers of “Agronomy”, because due to the significant genotype   X environment X HA concentration interactions, it gives practical information about the site-specific cultivation protocol that could maximizes the yield of the tested cultivar.

 Further observations are:

 The formula used to calculate the STI (stress tolerance index) should be shown and the reason why this index has been chosen, should be explained considering that many other indexes exist. (see row 271-218)

 The experiment was performed using just one variety, this is the reason why the authors must remove, all over the text, the speculative observations about the genetic adaptive traits of Sakha 94 or about the genetic variability for the analyzed traits (see rows 451-452; 459-464).

The negative effects of drought on yield and the positive effects of humic acids on wheat performance have been widely demonstrated. Hence, I suggest removing some of the sentences that reiterate the correspondence of this work results with those previously published, because they only underline the not-originality of the present paper (see rows 470- 476; 492-496).

 Rows 551 to 560 describe the state of art of HA application, I suggest moving these sentences to the introduction.

 Rows 486- 496

I cannot understand the reason why the Authors assess that:

 “Generally, wheat plants showed high yielding potential under drought stress conditions”. 

I cannot understand the meaning of the sentence, too:

 “ …… tolerance to drought in Sakha 94 cultivar has a common genetic background”

 The sentences regarding the results obtained by other authors about the drought tolerance of wheat genotypes (488-491) are not relevant, considering that the present work aim was not a varietal comparison or to prove the stress tolerance of Sakha 94.

 Conclusions should address the main usefulness of the work, while they essentially are a work summary.

Author Response

The formula used to calculate the STI (stress tolerance index) should be shown and the reason why this index has been chosen, should be explained considering that many other indexes exist. (see row 271-218)

Re: The STI equation isn't given because it calculates for all traits studied, not just the yield trait. The reasons for choosing this indicator over other drought tolerance indices are that 1) it was defined as a useful tool for determining the high yield and stress tolerance potential of genotype, and 2) it is a good alternative to most indicators because of its positive association with them, such as the indices of mean productivity (MP) and harmonic mean (HM).

The experiment was performed using just one variety, this is the reason why the authors must remove, all over the text, the speculative observations about the genetic adaptive traits of Sakha 94 or about the genetic variability for the analyzed traits (see rows 451-452; 459-464).

Re: We've removed it from the lines. 

The negative effects of drought on yield and the positive effects of humic acids on wheat performance have been widely demonstrated. Hence, I suggest removing some of the sentences that reiterate the correspondence of this work results with those previously published, because they only underline the not-originality of the present paper (see rows 470- 476; 492-496).

Re: Agreement with papers previously published to only supported our findings, which show a similar trend.

Rows 551 to 560 describe the state of art of HA application, I suggest moving these sentences to the introduction.

RE: These sentences support our findings, and there are several others in the introduction that follow the same pattern.

Rows 486- 496 I cannot understand the reason why the Authors assess that:

 “Generally, wheat plants showed high yielding potential under drought stress conditions”. 

I cannot understand the meaning of the sentence, too: “ …… tolerance to drought in Sakha 94 cultivar has a common genetic background”

Re: The two sentences have been deleted.

The sentences regarding the results obtained by other authors about the drought tolerance of wheat genotypes (488-491) are not relevant, considering that the present work aim was not a varietal comparison or to prove the stress tolerance of Sakha 94.

Re: The sentences have been deleted in these lines.

Conclusions should address the main usefulness of the work, while they essentially are a work summary.

Re: The major utility of the article has already been demonstrated in the conclusions, and the application of 60 kg HA ha^-1 is recommended to achieve optimal wheat productivity under drought stress circumstances in Egypt.

Reviewer 3 Report

Scientific publication "Bread wheat productivity in response to humic acid supply and supplementary irrigation mode in three northwestern coastal sites of Egypt" is, in my opinion, very interesting and brings many innovative solutions. An example of this is the use of humic acid treatments in cultivation technology. In my opinion, this is an innovative approach to cultivation. It should be noted that the problem of drought affects not only this region, but also Central Europe. Therefore, I believe that the issue discussed in this article is the most important topic. The introduction to the work has been presented correctly. Methodology and materials described in an understandable way. It is of great value to present the climatic conditions in individual regions and broken down into years. Tables and figures are presented clearly. The obtained results are interesting and clearly shown. In my opinion, it is worth focusing on this topic in the coming years.

Best regards

Author Response

Scientific publication "Bread wheat productivity in response to humic acid supply and supplementary irrigation mode in three northwestern coastal sites of Egypt" is, in my opinion, very interesting and brings many innovative solutions. An example of this is the use of humic acid treatments in cultivation technology. In my opinion, this is an innovative approach to cultivation. It should be noted that the problem of drought affects not only this region, but also Central Europe. Therefore, I believe that the issue discussed in this article is the most important topic. The introduction to the work has been presented correctly. Methodology and materials described in an understandable way. It is of great value to present the climatic conditions in individual regions and broken down into years. Tables and figures are presented clearly. The obtained results are interesting and clearly shown. In my opinion, it is worth focusing on this topic in the coming years.

Re: There are no comments to be responded.

Many thanks for these valuable comments

Author Response File: Author Response.docx