Mitigating Salinity Stress and Improving Cotton Productivity with Agronomic Practices
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
Globally, salinity is a serious problem to ensure food security as more than half of the countries are facing this problem and it is a serious threat to the growth, yield and fibre quality of cotton.
Specific comments follow
1. This is an interesting study and the authors have collected a unique dataset. The review article is well written and structured in sub headings. Authors have discussed in detail the strategies i.e. agronomic practices and particularly “concave and convex” planting and cultivation method to deal with the effect of salinity stress on the growth and yield of cotton.
2. Recheck the references as some references are incomplete.
Comments for author File: 
Comments.pdf
Author Response
Thank you for your review and feedback. We have taken your feedback into account and made some adjustments. The following is our response to your comments, please find.
- This is an interesting study and the authors have collected a unique dataset. The review article is well written and structured in sub headings. Authors have discussed in detail the strategies i.e. agronomic practices and particularly “concave and convex” planting and cultivation method to deal with the effect of salinity stress on the growth and yield of cotton.
Reply: Thank you for your recognition of the content of this paper
- Recheck the references as some references are incomplete.
Reply: The references have been revised according to the editorial requirements of the publisher.
Reviewer 2 Report
The presented review has a high practical potential, it presents and discusses successful agronomic approaches to reduce the negative impact of soil salinization. However, the lack of illustrative material reduces its representativeness.
pp 1, 7 - rephrase the sentence
26 - references according to the rules of the magazine in the same style
29 - rephrase the sentence
page 3 -26- indicate. what is labeled N
44- details the introduction of which organic compounds
pp. 4-27- it is not clear which root zones were exposed to which concentration of salt. Is the salt concentration given in mM?
It is advisable to provide a diagram
31- "O" - not clear
53 - add reference
6 page -19- which means "water relations"
43 - and further - no need to decipher the names of chemical elements
page 7 -6- add reference
pp 9 23-36 - many repetitions, see above
34 - KCl - do not decipher
38 - what microorganisms?
page 10-2 - was this method developed by you? Specify. If not, please provide reference.
28 - this is outdated data. There is a secondary salinization of the soil, as a result of which the area is constantly increasing.
Sections 1 and 2 lack references to more recent studies. It is desirable to supplement the references, there are many studies in this area, including with cotton. In this part of the review, it is desirable to add illustrations.
Author Response
Thank you for your review and feedback. We appreciate your recognition of the practical potential of our paper, as we aimed to present and discuss effective agronomic approaches to mitigate soil salinization. We understand your concern regarding the lack of illustrative material, and we apologize for any inconvenience caused. In order to address this issue, we have taken your feedback into account and made some adjustments. Specifically, we have added more references and Tables to provide additional support and enhance the clarity of our findings and recommendations. We hope that these additional resources will better illustrate our research and help address any concerns about the representativeness of our work.
The following is our response to your comments, please find.
pp 1, 7 - rephrase the sentence
Reply: It has been rewritten.
26 - references according to the rules of the magazine in the same style
Reply: It has been modified.
29 - rephrase the sentence
Reply: It has been rewritten
page 3 -26- indicate. what is labeled N
Reply: It is 15N and has been indicated in the text.
44- details the introduction of which organic compounds
Reply:They are compost or biochar.
- 4-27- it is not clear which root zones were exposed to which concentration of salt. Is the salt concentration given in mM? It is advisable to provide a diagram
Reply: This part has been rewritten and clearly presented.
31- "O" - not clear
Reply: It indicates non-salinity side and the explanation has been included.
53 - add reference
Reply: It has been added
6 page -19- which means "water relations"
Reply: It has been deleted.
43 - and further - no need to decipher the names of chemical elements
Reply: It has been modified.
page 7 -6- add reference
Reply: Have been added
pp 9 23-36 - many repetitions, see above
Reply: It has been deleted.
34 - KCl - do not decipher
Reply: It has been modified.
38 - what microorganisms?
Reply: such as arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF)
page 10-2 - was this method developed by you? Specify. If not, please provide reference.
Reply: This method developed by our team.
28 - this is outdated data. There is a secondary salinization of the soil, as a result of which the area is constantly increasing.
Reply: The data has been replaced.
Sections 1 and 2 lack references to more recent studies. It is desirable to supplement the references, there are many studies in this area, including with cotton. In this part of the review, it is desirable to add illustrations.
Reply: It has been added
Reviewer 3 Report
Comments and Suggestions for Authors
Title: Mitigating Salinity Stress and Improving Cotton Productivity with Agronomic Practices
Dear Authors
The subject is interesting and fall within the scope of the Agronomy journal. The presented manuscript deals with the current local problem. This review concentrates on research regarding the management of salinity effects on cotton growth and yield, with a specific focus on the implementation of comprehensive agronomic practices.
General remarks
In order to increase the usefulness of the article, Authors must refer to the following points. Additions should be made to increase the scientific value of the manuscript.
§ There are no citations of detailed results of other researchers in Section 2. The presented content is very general, textbook-like. Ionic antagonism and synergism should be included in this section.
§ Section 4. - More details from research by other authors should be added. The information presented is general and commonly known.
§ Subsection 4.4. - It should be added in what chemical form 15N was used and what was the 15N enrichment. This information is important for the topic described.
§ Subsection 4.5.- When citing research by Aly et al., 2019, please provide more information.
§ In the second part of Subsection 4.8 you need to complete the References of the saved information.
§ Figures 1 and 2 should be included and described in the appropriate section of the manuscript.
§ To be completed: Author Contributions, Funding, Data Availability Statement, acknowledgments, and conflicts of Interest.
§ References -The References must be corrected according to the editorial requirements of the publisher, add doi numbers, etc.
Specific comments
My comments here are technical notes:
§ Subsequent citations throughout the manuscript should be marked with numbers.
§ Subsection 3.2.1. – Kong et al., 2011 or 2012? (see References).
§ Subsection 4.4. – Ganiev et al., 2017 or 2021? (see References).
§ Subsection 4.8. – Zhang et al., 2016 not included in References.
Best regards
Author Response
Thank you for your review and feedback. We appreciate your recognition of the practical potential of our paper, as we aimed to present and discuss effective agronomic approaches to mitigate soil salinization. In the revised version, we have added additional content， references and Tables to provide additional support and enhance the clarity of our findings and recommendations.
We hope that these additional resources will better illustrate our research and help address any concerns about the representativeness of our work.
The following is our response to your comments, please find.
There are no citations of detailed results of other researchers in Section 2. The presented content is very general, textbook-like. Ionic antagonism and synergism should be included in this section.
Reply: Thank you for your valuable feedback. To address your concern, we have added some contents about ionic antagonism and synergism as many as we can.
Section 4. - More details from research by other authors should be added. The information presented is general and commonly known.
Reply: Thank you for your valuable suggestion. We understand your concern. However, new advances in this field are still limited. Hope you understand the situation.
Subsection 4.4. - It should be added in what chemical form 15N was used and what was the 15N enrichment. This information is important for the topic described.
Reply: N15 was labeled from urea. The relevant information has been added.
Subsection 4.5.- When citing research by Aly et al., 2019, please provide more information.
Reply: The citation has been replaced.
In the second part of Subsection 4.8 you need to complete the References of the saved information.
Reply: This method developed by our team. The reference has been added.
Figures 1 and 2 should be included and described in the appropriate section of the manuscript.
Reply: It has been added in the manuscript
To be completed: Author Contributions, Funding, Data Availability Statement, acknowledgments, and conflicts of Interest.
Reply: The relevant information has been added.
References -The References must be corrected according to the editorial requirements of the publisher, add doi numbers, etc.
Reply: The References have been revised according to the editorial requirements of the publisher.
Round 2
Reviewer 3 Report
Comment for Authors
Title: Mitigating Salinity Stress and Improving Cotton Productivity with Agronomic Practices
Dear Authors
The manuscript has been well revised.
Best regards
