Grazing Management Targets for Tangolagrass Pastures
, Guilherme Doneda Zanini 2, Pedro Antonio Garzón Camacho 1 and André Fischer Sbrissia 1Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
The manuscript "Grazing management targets for tangolagrass pastures" shows dry matter accumulation and the nutritional quality results of a tangolagrass pasture with different defoliation managements. The work is well written and meets the standards of a scientific work.
Some comments on the text are:
Line 29-30: Review the correct use of parentheses
Line 75: Table 1. Delete line under February
Line 77: Table 2. Add under the table meaning of the abbreviations. Soil analysis methods should be mentioned in the table or text.
Line 120: TPD. This abbreviation has apparently not been mentioned before in the text.
Line 140: DM ha-1 d. Add the -1 to d
Line 151: Remove line under TDP.
Line 178: Table 5. Delete line under NDF
Lines 94-96: In determining the yield components (leaves, pseudostem, stem, dead material), stem+pseudostem are added together as one component. From the morphological point of view the components are leaves, formed by lamina (blade) and sheath, plus stem. Apparently in this work it is used as a synonym leaves and laminae and sheath is included as part of stem. This aspect should be better explained. Additionally, the samples to determine these components were taken at ground level. This represents the total biomass, but not what is potentially consumed by the animals. This aspect I believe should also be considered in the discussion, since sampling at "grazing high" could generate different results
Author Response
The manuscript "Grazing management targets for tangolagrass pastures" shows dry matter accumulation and the nutritional quality results of a tangolagrass pasture with different defoliation managements. The work is well written and meets the standards of a scientific work.
Some comments on the text are:
Line 29-30: Review the correct use of parentheses
Done
Line 75: Table 1. Delete line under February
Done
Line 77: Table 2. Add under the table meaning of the abbreviations. Soil analysis methods should be mentioned in the table or text.
Done
Line 120: TPD. This abbreviation has apparently not been mentioned before in the text.
Done
Line 140: DM ha-1 d. Add the -1 to d
Done
Line 151: Remove line under TDP.
Done
Line 178: Table 5. Delete line under NDF
Done
Lines 94-96: In determining the yield components (leaves, pseudostem, stem, dead material), stem+pseudostem are added together as one component. From the morphological point of view the components are leaves, formed by lamina (blade) and sheath, plus stem. Apparently in this work it is used as a synonym leaves and laminae and sheath is included as part of stem. This aspect should be better explained. Additionally, the samples to determine these components were taken at ground level. This represents the total biomass, but not what is potentially consumed by the animals. This aspect I believe should also be considered in the discussion, since sampling at "grazing high" could generate different results
Done
Author Response File: 
Author Response.docx
Reviewer 2 Report
The presented study consists the original research results. The aim of the research was to identify pre-grazing canopy heights that do not compromise both leaf lamina production and nutritive value of tangolagrass pastures and test whether lower canopy height could decrease stolon elongation process.
In the ‘Abstact’ abbreviations should be clarified.
The ‘Introduction’ section is short and superficial. There should be more information about this grass, which is little known, and the journal Agriculture is internationally recognized.
The ‘Materials and Methods’ section
Table 2 - please explain the abbreviations below the table
Line 102-106 - separate patterns in single lines and check units. There are different in patterns and different in Fig. 2. And what does d mean?
The ‘Results’ section
Table 3 - please explain the abbreviations SEM below the table
Table 5 - confused letters denoting homologous groups in CP
The “Discussion” section
The Latin names of the cited species are necessary.
The references are properly selected but doi numbers are missing.
Author Response
The presented study consists the original research results. The aim of the research was to identify pre-grazing canopy heights that do not compromise both leaf lamina production and nutritive value of tangolagrass pastures and test whether lower canopy height could decrease stolon elongation process.
In the ‘Abstact’ abbreviations should be clarified.
Done
The ‘Introduction’ section is short and superficial. There should be more information about this grass, which is little known, and the journal Agriculture is internationally recognized.
We agree that more information about tangolagrass at the introduction section would be nice. However, scientific information about tangolagrass is very scarce. In this way, we have added a little more information about tangolagrass and added a phase relating the scarcity of information about tangolagrass.
The ‘Materials and Methods’ section
Table 2 - please explain the abbreviations below the table
Done
Line 102-106 - separate patterns in single lines and check units. There are different in patterns and different in Fig. 2. And what does d mean?
We are sorry, but we did not understand what it was suggested here. Anyway, we have revised the units., and d is a standard abbreviation for “days”.
The ‘Results’ section
Table 3 - please explain the abbreviations SEM below the table
Done
Table 5 - confused letters denoting homologous groups in CP
Actually CP was different among treatments. We have rephrased that at the discussion section for more clarity. Thanks for noticing!
The “Discussion” section
The Latin names of the cited species are necessary.
Done
The references are properly selected but doi numbers are missing.
We have checked some of the latest publications at Agriculture-MDPI and doi numbers are not mentioned. Thus, we ask to keep without such information just to meet the standards of the journal.
Author Response File: Author Response.docx
