Herbage and Silage Quality Improved More by Mixing Barley and Faba Bean Than by N Fertilization or Stage of Harvest

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Dear  authors,

This study is a very interesting approach regarding the use of advanced statistical techniques in order to analyze the influence of different factors on the intercropping quality. Keep up the good work.

Author Response

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Reviewer 2 Report

Very interesting research concept.

I wonder if the word „hybrid” is necessary in the title, abstract key words and text (except of description of Tecktoo cultivar). Its  short characteristic should be given in the section Materials and Methods. Tecktoo is probably a new cultivar and not common yet (I suppose) but the key question is whether it differs significantly from other barley cultivars grown in Italy. If this cultivar differs significantly from the non-hybrid cultivars, the conclusions of the experiment are limited to this cultivar only. If this is the case, it is justified to leave the word “hybrid” in the title, abstract and text. Moreover it should be strongly  emphasized in the Discussion and in Conclusions.

Keywords: three of them are a repetition of the words contained in the title, and this is not correct.

The Introduction lacks a short paragraph about barley as a silage raw material. Remember to enter the Latin name after the first use of the barley species name (as it is given for faba bean).

The Conclusions should contain an unambiguous practical recommendation what the proportions of barley and faba bean should be in order to obtain a silage with the best parameters. 

Minor errors

Line 60: I think that “oat” should be included too.

Lines 126 and 127: Is Hordeum vulgare, should be H. vulgare  because the full name should be given for the first time in the Introduction; the same for Vicia faba var. minor. In addition – why “var. Tecktoo” and “cultivar Vesuvio”? Font and nomenclature should be standardized.

Lines 150-152: Nitrogen dose 140 kg ha^-1 is rather high dose. Why it was applied once? As a rule, it is recommended to divide such doses.

Line 359: Is “… in Figure 7 Supple-” should be “… in Figure 7 and Supple-“

Line 391: A brief commentary on cellulose and hemicellulose is needed.

Lines 606, 608 and 731: is “Silage” should be “silage”.

Author Response

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Reviewer 3 Report

The studies presented in the manuscript are interesting mainly due to the analysis of both herbage and silage. An unquestionable advantage is the large scope of the analyzes performed, although the results of some of them were easy to predict. However, in my opinion they are of limited importance for agricultural practice. Plants were grown individually, and a mixture was prepared based on the dry weight determined the day before harvest. How to transfer this to determining the proportions of both species in intercropping. And such high nitrogen fertilization? One of the advantages of mixed grain and legume crops is the reduction of mineral fertilization, especially nitrogen fertilization. The effect of nitrogen fertilization of barley has no practical significance for the planning of hybrid barley and faba bean intercropping.

Detailed comments:

Correct the title of subchapter 2.1. Plant materials and experimental design

The growth phases of plants would be better determined using the BBCH scale

Line [130] - on what basis was such a dose of nitrogen determined?

Line [146] - pH in water, in  KCL?

Line [149] - phosphorus and potassium fertilization for barley and field beans was the same?

Line [152] - why the entire dose of nitrogen was used at once, is this appropriate?

Line [155] - what surface were the plants cut from?

Line [202] – ‘fertilized with nitrogen faba bean’

Line [263-264] - the results concerning the dry matter content in the forage are easy to predict, since the share of individual species in the mixture ‘were obtained in term of dry weights measured one day before ensiling’. The same applies to the protein content, it is known that the bean contains more of it and a greater share in the mixture will increase its content.

Author Response

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