Regionally Adapted Model of an Ideal Malus×domestica Borkh Apple Variety for Industrial-Scale Cultivation in European Russia

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report (Previous Reviewer 1)

Ms is ready for publication

Reviewer 2 Report (Previous Reviewer 2)

The revised manuscript was well done and can be accepted now.

This manuscript is a resubmission of an earlier submission. The following is a list of the peer review reports and author responses from that submission.

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

MDPI publishing house is an institution that includes quality journals. I am of the opinion that the articles in which the articles are of good quality and include simple errors cannot be published in these journals. For example;

 

Abstract

In the abstract Section, “Apple is one of the most common fruit crops in the Russian fruit growing industry with huge varietal diversity and vast cultivation area.” The sentence should be put forward as the first sentence.

More numerical data should be added to the abstract  section.

 

Introduction

Add more literature to the introduction. The introduction is too short, please expand it.

In the introduction, “China is the world leader in apple production with an average production quantity 34 of 40.5 million tons a year (47.58% of the world production). Russia is among the top ten 35 apple producing countries in the world (2.0 M tons) and is ranked eighth following 36 China (40.5 M tons), the United States (4.6 M tons), Turkey (4.3 M tons), Poland (3.5 M tons) M 37 tons), India (2.7 M tons), Italy (2.5 M tons), and Iran (2.2 M tons). In 2016, the harvested 38 area for apples in Russia was 197.7 K ha. In five recent years, it increased by 8.18 % to 39 215.3 K ha in 2020, see Table 1” Add reference to paragraph.(FAO)

 

material and method

This section is not included in the study. Proceed directly to the results section. Please add.

Author Response

Уважаемый рецензент, спасибо за работу над рукописью.

Ответ 1. Внесена правка, добавлены числовые данные.

Ответ 2. Отредактировано, введение увеличено на 20 источников, добавлена ​​ссылка.

Ответ 3. Данный вид работы относится к типу «мнение», не предполагает раздела «материал и метод».

С уважением, авторы.

Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Reviewer 2 Report

 1. The “Abstract” should be written according the order “Object-Method-Result-Conclusion”.

 2. Line 29: The number of reference “[1]” should be moved to Line 31.

 3. “1. Introduction” part: “Paragraph 1” and “Paragraph 2” can be combined and compressed because the length of the introduction of apple production was too large.

 4. The research purpose of this research should be presented in “1. Introduction” section.

 5. “Materials and Methods” section seems to be lost.

 6. Line 52, Line 305: Please confirm the numbers of the sections.

 7. This manuscript seems like neither a research paper nor a review article. The author should reorganize the full text appropriately.

Author Response

Dear reviewer, thank you for your work on the manuscript.

Response 1. Changes applied.

Response 2. Changes applied.

Response 3. The Introduction part: "Paragraph 1" and "Paragraph 2" have been condensed, additional information has been added on recommendation of the reviewer 1.

Response 4. Changes applied.

Response 5. This type of work belonds of the "opinion" tipe, it does not imply a section "material and method".

Response 6. Changes applied.

Response 7. Thise type of work belonds of "opinion" tipe.

Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Reviewer 3 Report

The manuscript entitled "Regionally Adapted Model of an Ideal Malus×domestica Borkh Apple Variety for Industrial-Scale Cultivation in European Russia" Although; the topic is scientifically attractive and exciting from an environmental perspective. The manuscript provides information regarding commercial apple cultivars. The overall quality of the drafted manuscript is adequate. 

- The purpose of writing the MS is not completely clear, it should be expressed more clearly in the sections abstract and introduction.

- A total of 496 apple varieties were evaluated in the MS, but the table containing the names and characteristics of the evaluated apple varieties should be attached to the article.

- In the MS, apple varieties were classified according to some characteristics. A table should be attached for this classification as well. In this way, the MS is very difficult to read and understand.

- The most important features that distinguish apple varieties from each other are the sugar ratios, organic acids, and polyphenolic compounds they contain. The mentioned properties determine the resistance of apples to biotic and abiotic stresses. Therefore, when classifying apples, it would be more appropriate to classify them according to these characteristics and to distinguish them according to regions.

- In general, there are too many names and features in the whole article. Therefore, it would be more understandable if the table and figure system were used for the varieties and distinctions mentioned. It should be able to understand the summary of the MS just by examining the tables and figures.

 

Author Response

Dear reviewer, thank you for your work on the manuscript.

Responce 1.  The purpose is included in the required sections.

Responce 2, 3, 4. A table with the characteristics of 496 varieties by region of cultivation, years of registration, organizing organizations, terms of consumption and proection is presentad in the form of table 2. Unfortunately, is it not possible to present tax tables for all 28 parameters in this work, this would signitiicantly increase it in volume. In this regard, we considered that it is necessary to mark those varieties that meet the requirements of the madel.

Response 5. We are familiar with studies of genome resistance to environmental factor depending on sugar, organic acids and poliphenolic compounds. In the same works, there is evidence that metabolites can manifest themselves differently under changing conditions. And more full-scale work is required to study a larger pool of varieties, not just one region. In Russia, there ara a large nomber of local varieties with unique genotipes that do not match in parental pairs. These varieties are resistant to harsh growing regions. Our work is an attempt to compile a model of the phenotypic manifestation of traits with the allocation of sources of their maximum manifestation. In the future, we will definitely conduct more in-depth studies on  the metabolomics of substances and the resistance of these varieties.

Author Response File: Author Response.docx