Effects of Irrigation on N2O Emissions in a Maize Crop Grown on Different Soil Types in Two Contrasting Seasons
, Ida Di Mola 1,*, Paul Di Tommasi 2, Mauro Mori 1, Vincenzo Magliulo 2 and Luca Vitale 2Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
The manuscript entitled “Effects of Irrigation on N2O Emissions in a Maize Crop Grown on Different Soil Types in Two Contrasting Seasons” is interesting but several mistakes in the manuscript should be corrected.
Specific comments
- Authors should carefully recheck the manuscript for the typos and also write the meaning of all acronyms because there are some which are not presented.
Abstract
Line 16-18. It’s very long sentence. Please divide into two sentences. First part of the sentence is readable but second part should be rewritten.
Not very clear scientific question is written in the abstract. Please do consider it and rewrite it again in single sentence.
Line 20. Please write which two contrasting seasons in brackets.
Line 20-21. Again very long sentence and not very clear. It should be read as” On 2009, N2O emissions and crop biomass measured in both soil types were lower than those measured in 2010, due to the less amount of water and nitrogen (N) availability by crop”.
Line 24. Author used “N content”, however, they didn’t mention the N abbreviation previously.
Please write one sentence about the methodology of the study in the abstract.
Please write one sentence about why this study is important in Mediterranean climate? Because author used Mediterranean climate as a keyword but didn’t mention anything about it in the abstract body.
The author main topic is about effects of irrigation, So, I’ll suggest that the author should write something about what kind of irrigation they applied? How much amount they applied for each season in the abstract in a single sentence.
Line 27. Use a comma before whereas.
Introduction
Line 33-35. It's a very long sentence. Divide it into two sentences.
Line 38-41. Again very long sentence. The author should know that a short and very clear sentence is easy to read by anyone. Please improve the English of this sentence. Meaning is not very clear.
Line 41-42. What’s the Author wants to convey the message in this sentence?? Moreover, it controversial sentence to the previous one. More importantly, a reference is missing.
Line 44-45. Revise this sentence to “two processes influenced by several factors including soil temperature, moisture content, soil pH, aeration, and availability of nitrogen (N) and organic carbon contents.”
Line 45-46. Revise this sentence to “N availability in the soil is the major diver for N2O emissions and the chemical fertilizers are the main source of N contents in the agricultural soils (Shakoor et al., 2018)”.
Line 46-47. Please add reference.
Line 48. Please remove nitrous oxide and use “N2O” because author already used abbreviation.
Line 48-49. Revise the sentence to “Soil temperature also plays an important role in regulating the N2O emission from agricultural soils and N2O emission increases as increases the soil temperature (Schindlbacher et al., 2004)”.
Line 49. pH regulates both nitrification and denitrification. How?? Please justified with reference and don’t use the only pH, should use soil pH.
Line 50-51. The author should use reference.
Line 52-54. Revise this sentence to “Irrigation controls soil water content in agricultural soils that directly effects the oxygen availability to soil microbes, which alternatively influences the N2O emission (Gebremichael et al., 2017; Shakoor et al., 2021)”.
Line 54. Use a comma before whereas.
Line 55-56. Why author used prevails here. Please use proper word like effect, disturb, influence etc etc and most importantly justified with reference. Why author used respectively. Please revise the whole sentence.
Line 60. It is also to be … Use reference after first part of the sentence.
Line 62-68. Revise whole paragraph and rewrite all objectives clearly.
Line 67. Please don’t use nitrous oxide again and again as author already used abbreviation. So, please use N2O rather than nitrous oxide.
Material and methods
Line 75. Revise into “could be found”
Line 76. Use a comma before whereas
Table 1. remove big bracket after OM.
Line 82. Used applied rather than supplied
Line 83. Use comma after DAS and replace supplied with applied
Line 91. Use applied
Line 92. Rainfall, please correct the spelling
Line 93. Use applied
Line 98. Remove comma after air samples
line 107. Use comma before whereas
line 107. Remove comma after soil moisture
line 116. Please use full form of soil nitrate as it is appeared first time
- All the tables and figures are clearly presented but authors must check all the figure pixels again. Some of them are not very clear.
- I suggest that authors check the bibliographic references in the main text and revise the format of documents to meet the requirement of the Journal.
- In abstract, please add more information about methods of the experiment.
- In abstract, please don't write the same conclusion lines as they were written in the main conclusion section.
- What was the specific reason to select the rice straw and rice husk for feedstock type? It would be good if it includes in the revised manuscript.
- In conclusion section, please add more precise information about results
- In addition, the objectives should be re-written. Please double check the whole paper, including the language, to make the paper more readable.
- Line 41; it should be N2O not N2O. Please also check whole manuscript and remove this type of mistake.
- Line 49; similar mistake again. N2O not N2O.
- Line 59; not nitrate (NO3−), change it to nitrate (NO3−)
- Line 161; revise the heading
- Line 162; not air was sampled, changed it to “gas” and revise the whole sentence.
Please recheck whole manuscript very carefully and remove all the mistakes.
Some of the papers that would be interesting to compare are, for example.
Results and discussion
Results are written well but discussion has to be improved. Authors just compared the results. Lack of discussion so it should be improved.
Line 150. Remove nitrogen. Just use abbreviation
Line 151. Correct NO3-
Conclusion
Line 224. Use comma before whereas
Line 225. Use comma after soils
Author must include some significant results in the conclusion rather than just writing the importance.
References
Gebremichael, A.W., Osborne, B., Orr, P., 2017. Flooding-related increases in CO2 and N2O emissions from a temperate coastal grassland ecosystem. Biogeosciences 14, 2611–2626. https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-14-2611-2017
Schindlbacher, A., Zechmeister‐Boltenstern, S., Butterbach‐Bahl, K., 2004. Effects of soil moisture and temperature on NO, NO2, and N2O emissions from European forest soils. J. Geophys. Res. Atmos. 109.
Shakoor, A., Shahbaz, M., Hassan, T., Sahar, N.E., Muhammad, S., Mohsin, M., Ashraf, M., 2021. A global meta-analysis of greenhouse gases emission and crop yield under no-tillage as compared to conventional tillage. Sci. Total Environ. 750, 142299. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.142299
Shakoor, A., Xu, Y., Wang, Q., Chen, N., He, F., Zuo, H., Yin, H., Yan, X., Ma, Y., Yang, S., 2018. Effects of fertilizer application schemes and soil environmental factors on nitrous oxide emission fluxes in a rice-wheat cropping system, east China. PLoS One 13, 1–16. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0202016
Author Response
Reviewer 1
Comments and Suggestions for Authors
The manuscript entitled “Effects of Irrigation on N2O Emissions in a Maize Crop Grown on Different Soil Types in Two Contrasting Seasons” is interesting but several mistakes in the manuscript should be corrected.
Specific comments
Authors should carefully recheck the manuscript for the typos and also write the meaning of all acronyms because there are some which are not presented.
Abstract
Line 16-18. It’s very long sentence. Please divide into two sentences. First part of the sentence is readable but second part should be rewritten.
Done (Line 16-18)
Not very clear scientific question is written in the abstract. Please do consider it and rewrite it again in single sentence.
Thanks for the suggest. We re-written the abstract, using sentences clearer and specifying better the all observations highlighted by reviewers.
Line 20. Please write which two contrasting seasons in brackets.
DONE (Line 24)
Line 20-21. Again very long sentence and not very clear. It should be read as” On 2009, N2O emissions and crop biomass measured in both soil types were lower than those measured in 2010, due to the less amount of water and nitrogen (N) availability by crop”.
DONE LINES 27-29
Line 24. Author used “N content”, however, they didn’t mention the N abbreviation previously. DONE (Line 30)
Please write one sentence about the methodology of the study in the abstract.
DONE (Line 24-27)
Please write one sentence about why this study is important in Mediterranean climate? Because author used Mediterranean climate as a keyword but didn’t mention anything about it in the abstract body.
DONE (Line 19-22)
The author main topic is about effects of irrigation, So, I’ll suggest that the author should write something about what kind of irrigation they applied? How much amount they applied for each season in the abstract in a single sentence.
We added only some information (Line 24-25) because the abstract is already too long.
Line 27. Use a comma before whereas.
DONE (line 34)
Introduction
Line 33-35. It's a very long sentence. Divide it into two sentences.
DONE (Line 47)
Line 38-41. Again very long sentence. The author should know that a short and very clear sentence is easy to read by anyone. Please improve the English of this sentence. Meaning is not very clear. DONE (Line 51-52)
Line 41-42. What’s the Author wants to convey the message in this sentence?? Moreover, it controversial sentence to the previous one. More importantly, a reference is missing.
We deleted the sentence (Line 53-54)
Line 44-45. Revise this sentence to “two processes influenced by several factors including soil temperature, moisture content, soil pH, aeration, and availability of nitrogen (N) and organic carbon contents.”
We changed the sentence (Line 56-57)
Line 45-46. Revise this sentence to “N availability in the soil is the major diver for N2O emissions and the chemical fertilizers are the main source of N contents in the agricultural soils (Shakoor et al., 2018)”.
DONE (Line 59-60)
Line 46-47. Please add reference.
DONE (line 60)
Line 48. Please remove nitrous oxide and use “N2O” because author already used abbreviation. DONE
Line 48-49. Revise the sentence to “Soil temperature also plays an important role in regulating the N2O emission from agricultural soils and N2O emission increases as increases the soil temperature (Schindlbacher et al., 2004)”.
DONE (LINE 63-64)
Line 49. pH regulates both nitrification and denitrification. How?? Please justified with reference and don’t use the only pH, should use soil pH.
We added a sentence about the soil pH role in the denitrification and nitrification processes (Line 67-73)
Line 50-51. The author should use reference.
DONE (Line 75)
Line 52-54. Revise this sentence to “Irrigation controls soil water content in agricultural soils that directly effects the oxygen availability to soil microbes, which alternatively influences the N2O emission (Gebremichael et al., 2017; Shakoor et al., 2021)”.
DONE Line (75-77)
Line 54. Use a comma before whereas.
DONE (Line 80)
Line 55-56. Why author used prevails here. Please use proper word like effect, disturb, influence etc etc and most importantly justified with reference. Why author used respectively. Please revise the whole sentence.
The sentence was not very clear, therefore we re-wrote it (lines 81-82)
Line 60. It is also to be … Use reference after first part of the sentence.
The reference 27 regards the whole sentence (line 87)
Line 62-68. Revise whole paragraph and rewrite all objectives clearly.
We re-wrote the whole sentence about the aim of research (lines 89-93)
Line 67. Please don’t use nitrous oxide again and again as author already used abbreviation. So, please use N2O rather than nitrous oxide.
DONE (LINE 95)
Material and methods
Line 75. Revise into “could be found”
DONE (Line 104)
Line 76. Use a comma before whereas
DONE Line (105)
Table 1. remove big bracket after OM.
DONE
Line 82. Used applied rather than supplied
DONE (Linea 110)
Line 83. Use comma after DAS and replace supplied with applied
DONE (Line 112)
Line 91. Use applied
DONE (Line 119)
Line 92. Rainfall, please correct the spelling
DONE (Line 120)
Line 93. Use applied
DONE (Line 121)
Line 98. Remove comma after air samples
DONE (Line 126)
Line 107. Use comma before whereas
DONE (Line 136)
Line 107. Remove comma after soil moisture
DONE (Line 136)
Line 116. Please use full form of soil nitrate as it is appeared first time
DONE (Line 147)
All the tables and figures are clearly presented but authors must check all the figure pixels again. Some of them are not very clear. I suggest that authors check the bibliographic references in the main text and revise the format of documents to meet the requirement of the Journal
We revised the manuscript, according to the journal guidelines
In abstract, please add more information about methods of the experiment.
DONE
In abstract, please don't write the same conclusion lines as they were written in the main conclusion section.
DONE
What was the specific reason to select the rice straw and rice husk for feedstock type? It would be good if it includes in the revised manuscript.
Sorry, but we don’t understand what the reviewer wants
In conclusion section, please add more precise information about results
Thanks for the suggestion, but in the conclusion section we prefer to report only the main conclusions of our research and don’t repeat the results, which we have already discussed in the “results and discussion” section.
In addition, the objectives should be re-written. Please double check the whole paper, including the language, to make the paper more readable.
DONE
Line 41; it should be N2O not N2O. Please also check whole manuscript and remove this type of mistake. Line 49; similar mistake again. N2O not N2O. Line 59; not nitrate (NO3−), change it to nitrate (NO3−)
We checked the whole manuscript and corrected the mistakes, as suggested by reviewer
Line 161; revise the heading
DONE (line 155)
Line 162; not air was sampled, changed it to “gas” and revise the whole sentence
We don’t find what reviewer writes
Please recheck whole manuscript very carefully and remove all the mistakes.
We checked the whole manuscript and corrected the mistakes, as suggested by reviewer
Some of the papers that would be interesting to compare are, for example.
Ok, thanks
Results and discussion
Results are written well but discussion has to be improved. Authors just compared the results. Lack of discussion so it should be improved.
Thanks for the suggestion, we revised the discussion section
Line 150. Remove nitrogen. Just use abbreviation
DONE (line 173)
Line 151. Correct NO3-
DONE
Conclusion
Line 224. Use comma before whereas
DONE (Line 313)
Line 225. Use comma after soils
DONE (Line 313)
Author must include some significant results in the conclusion rather than just writing the importance.
Thanks for the suggestion, but in the conclusion section we prefer to report only the main conclusions of our research and don’t repeat the results, which we have already discussed in the “results and discussion” section.
Author Response File: 
Author Response.docx
Reviewer 2 Report
The manuscript entitled “Effects of Irrigation on N2O Emissions in a Maize Crop Grown on Different Soil Types in Two Contrasting Seasons” has been critically reviewed. The manuscript is having high scientific merits as the climate change is one of the biggest threats and need immediate attention especially considering the contribution of nitrous oxides (due to high GWP from the GHGs emits from agriculture soil) into global climate change from agro-ecosystem.
The nitrous oxide and its emission pathway, influencing factors, anthropogenic alteration of the nitrogen cycle which directly related to nitrous oxide emission.
The future prospect of the manuscript is very useful to for GHGs related scientific community.
In my opinion, this topic is very important, significant and there is hardly any available study especial in respect to agro-ecosystem region of Mediterranean. This paper not only provides the valuable insights of the global audience but also support to address the environmental scientist to identify the solution for the mitigating the nitrous oxide emission from the agro-ecosystem. The point wise comments of the every section are listed below:
Abstract: Write briefly about treatment and Add data result of N2O emission in Abstract.
For example: Nitrogen fertilizer was applied as ammonium sulphate and urea with DMPP nitrification inhibitors, split into two applications of 68 and 190 kg N ha−1 in the case of 2009 and 65 and 187 kg N ha−1 in the second year 2010.
Likewise add date result in abstract also.
Line no 46: Please citation with latest publication including following; https://doi.org/10.1007/s11157-020-09554-w; https://doi.org/10.1080/17583004.2019.1650579;
Line no 48, 67, 169, 171, and 207: Change nitrous oxide by N2O
Line no 49: pH regulates both nitrification and denitrification, add relative citation, Suggested paper for citation https://doi.org/10.1080/01904167.2019.1589497;
Line no 74: add source of annual temp. and rainfall
Line no 81: Add scientific name of Maize
Line no 85: Add abbreviation of 3,4 dimetilphyrazolephosphate (DMPP)
Line no 84 to 84: Add details about percentage of NI in total urea and ammonia nitrogen.
If Arthur feel comfortable in result and discussion: replace 3.1 by 3.2 section in manuscript. (Firstly result and discussion of N2O emission and later yield)
Line no 153: add relevant reference
Line 162: Topographical error- sail.. it is soil
Figure no 1- Add Temperature (ºC) and Rainfall (mm) in axis for better representation.
Table 3: If have data of please add detail of Grain yield, Stover yield separately and calculated harvest index from it.
Section 2.3-write briefly about sampling frequency (weekly or daily ???)
Discussion: This section has scope for improvement. Kindly discussion more about second major peak observed around 72 DAS in Fig. 2b.
Author Response
Reviewer 2
The manuscript entitled “Effects of Irrigation on N2O Emissions in a Maize Crop Grown on Different Soil Types in Two Contrasting Seasons” has been critically reviewed. The manuscript is having high scientific merits as the climate change is one of the biggest threats and need immediate attention especially considering the contribution of nitrous oxides (due to high GWP from the GHGs emits from agriculture soil) into global climate change from agro-ecosystem.
The nitrous oxide and its emission pathway, influencing factors, anthropogenic alteration of the nitrogen cycle which directly related to nitrous oxide emission.
The future prospect of the manuscript is very useful to for GHGs related scientific community.
In my opinion, this topic is very important, significant and there is hardly any available study especial in respect to agro-ecosystem region of Mediterranean. This paper not only provides the valuable insights of the global audience but also support to address the environmental scientist to identify the solution for the mitigating the nitrous oxide emission from the agro-ecosystem. The point wise comments of the every section are listed below:
Abstract:
Write briefly about treatment and Add data result of N2O emission in Abstract. For example: Nitrogen fertilizer was applied as ammonium sulphate and urea with DMPP nitrification inhibitors, split into two applications of 68 and 190 kg N ha−1 in the case of 2009 and 65 and 187 kg N ha−1 in the second year 2010. Likewise add date result in abstract also.
We re-wrote the abstract, adding some information
Line no 46: Please citation with latest publication including following; https://doi.org/10.1007/s11157-020-09554-w; https://doi.org/10.1080/17583004.2019.1650579; DONE (LINE 65)
Line no 48, 67, 169, 171, and 207: Change nitrous oxide by N2O
DONE
Line no 49: pH regulates both nitrification and denitrification, add relative citation, Suggested paper for citation https://doi.org/10.1080/01904167.2019.1589497;
DONE (Line 67)
Line no 74: add source of annual temp. and rainfall
DONE (Line 103)
Line no 81: Add scientific name of Maize
DONE (Line 109)
Line no 85: Add abbreviation of 3,4 dimetilphyrazolephosphate (DMPP)
DONE (Line 113)
Line no 84 to 84: Add details about percentage of NI in total urea and ammonia nitrogen.
DONE (LINE 109 and 111)
If Arthur feel comfortable in result and discussion: replace 3.1 by 3.2 section in manuscript. (Firstly result and discussion of N2O emission and later yield)
Thanks for the suggestion, we replaced the section about yield after the discussion of N2O emission
Line no 153: add relevant reference
Done (line 301)
Line 162: Topographical error- sail.. it is soil
DONE (Line 185)
Figure no 1- Add Temperature (ºC) and Rainfall (mm) in axis for better representation.
DONE
Table 3: If have data of please add detail of Grain yield, Stover yield separately and calculated harvest index from it.
The variety of maize used in our experiment is a silage-type, therefore the whole plant is cut before that it produces the seeds (grain)
Section 2.3-write briefly about sampling frequency (weekly or daily ???)
DONE ( Line 128)
Discussion:
This section has scope for improvement. Kindly discussion more about second major peak observed around 72 DAS in Fig. 2b.
The effectiveness of DMPP in inhibiting the nitrification is linked to soil temperatures, it is higher when the soil temperature is lower. Therefore, since the plants grown on sandy soil showed a delay in growth, they didn’t cover the soil like the plants grown on clay soil and thus the soil surface was more exposed to solar radiation, with consequent increase of temperatures in the topmost soil layer. This one is our hypothesis for explaining the different peaks observed at 72 DAS in the two soils (we already wrote in the text -lines 199-203).
Author Response File: Author Response.docx
Round 2
Reviewer 1 Report
Authors have been addressed all the concerns.
Reviewer 2 Report
The manuscript entitled-"Effects of irrigation on N2O emissions in a Maize crop grown on different soil types in two contrasting seasons" is revised precisely .
