Identification of Candidate Genes for Salt Tolerance at the Germination Stage in Japonica Rice by Genome-Wide Association Analysis

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Dear authors,

I have found your research applicable and as rice is an important crop, your research outcome can help its cultivation in saline area with doing a good selection,

I found the writing of manuscript meet the standards, but I have some few suggestion:

1- I suggest to add error bar to column in your figures 2 and 3 based on the statistical analysis, to let readers better understand the significant differences between values,

2- I would also suggest to report the statistical errors in the tables based on the statistical analysis,

3- in the title I suggest to replace "Tolerant" with "Tolerance" because tolerant is adjective while tolerance is noun which better fit the title,

Overall, I suggest the journal to accept and publish your manuscript,

Good luck,

Author Response

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Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Reviewer 2 Report

The manuscript describes and discusses logically designed experiments and presents results that are expected to be of considerable interest to the scientific community. It is an exciting study with an interesting approach. The paper on the whole is well designed and results in sound. Nevertheless, the manuscript needs a major revision:

Manuscript in general needs English editing service as there are speech unclarities, long sentences which lose sense, and grammatical errors.

The title is close to similar to some previous publications hence I recommend changing the title.

The abstract is not written in a systemic and concerted style. Also, the Abstract lacks data values based on the findings of the study relating to different parameters.

In the introduction, the part should highlight the main aim of the paper, and additionally, what is the novelty of carrying out research work.

The results of the study have not been compared with the findings of earlier scientists.

The "Conclusion" section should be enlarged by including specific results and conclusions drawn from them, not only the general conclusion of the manuscript.

Replace the references for older years with the reference of the latest years.

Line 73 Incubator ..Mention the origin and company.

The quality of the figures must be improved. e.g.Fig.1

Which of the wild accessions in rice are tolerant to salinity?

How does Rice overcome salt stress?

How does salinity affect rice?

What is one way that humans can mitigate the effects of saline soil in rice paddies?

Why does salt slow germination?

Author Response

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Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Reviewer 3 Report

In the article, the study was carried out during the germination of rice seeds in water containing NaCl. However, saline soils contain, in addition to chlorides, also sodium carbonates and sulfates. Will the obtained results be applicable to real conditions with soils containing, in addition to chlorides, sodium carbonates and sulfates?

Author Response

Please see the attachment.

Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Round 2

Reviewer 2 Report

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