Shifting Long-Term Tillage to Geotextile Mulching for Weed Control Improves Soil Quality and Yield of Orange Orchards
, Eristanna Palazzolo and Vito Armando Laudicina
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
Dear authors, I have add five explanation on the MS. Please update the manuscript according to these small notes. I colored yellow that sections. Sincerely.
Comments for author File: 
Comments.pdf
Author Response
Response to Reviewer 1 Comments
Dear Reviewer,
on behalf of all the Co-Authors, I would like to thank you for the suggestions and comments to our Ms. We accepted all the suggested changes and answered to yours comments. We really appreciate your suggestions that push us to improve the manuscript. Please find below the detailed reply to each comment (in black we reported your comments, in red our answers).
Sincerely
The Corresponding Author
Caterina Lucia
- Point 1: Too long. It is recommended to change it to a more striking short title.
Response 1: Accepted. We delete from the title the variety of the orange orchard. The new title is: Shifting long-term tillage to geotextile mulching for weed control improves soil quality and yield of orange orchards.
- Point 2: Lines 72-73.
Response 2: Lines 72-73 are highlighted in yellow but no comment was available. Thus, we kept the sentence as it is.
- Point 3: Lines 98-101. You should not talk about evaluation methods here. Please, give only the hypothesis and purpose.
Response 3: Accepted. The sentence has been removed.
- Point 4: Line 125. Rotary tillage?? You should explain this a little. You must describe the set of tillage equipment used. ..
Response 4: Accepted. In the M&M section we explained what rotary tillage is (lines 131-134).
- Point 5: Line 149. You should give the abbreviation in parentheses where it first occurs. Such as microbial biomass carbon (MBC).
Response 5: done.
- Point 6: Line 334. Too short. You should revive the Conclusions section. You do not need to cite references in this section. Please write your concrete suggestions.
Response 6: Accepted. We added one more sentence at the end of the Conclusion section as a take home message.
Reviewer 2 Report
The manuscript discusses the long-term effects of soil mulching on soil chemical and biological properties, as well as the yield of an orange orchard under various cultivation systems. The findings of this study could be used to implement long-term weed management strategies in intensive orchard cultivation. The manuscript as a whole is very well written and presented to the reader. The introduction is based on recent discoveries, and the section "Materials and Methods" is sufficiently detailed. Statistical analysis has been used to validate the results. The reader will find the tables and figures to be very clear and understandable. The main findings and ideas are generally well documented, justified, and backed up by references. The manuscript is recommended for publication with no changes.
Author Response
Response to Reviewer 2 Comments
Dear Reviewer,
on behalf of all the Co-Authors, I would like to thank you for the comment to our Ms. We really appreciate your report.
Sincerely
The Corresponding Author
Caterina Lucia
The manuscript discusses the long-term effects of soil mulching on soil chemical and biological properties, as well as the yield of an orange orchard under various cultivation systems. The findings of this study could be used to implement long-term weed management strategies in intensive orchard cultivation. The manuscript as a whole is very well written and presented to the reader. The introduction is based on recent discoveries, and the section "Materials and Methods" is sufficiently detailed. Statistical analysis has been used to validate the results. The reader will find the tables and figures to be very clear and understandable. The main findings and ideas are generally well documented, justified, and backed up by references. The manuscript is recommended for publication with no changes.
Response: The Authors thank the Reviewer for his/her appreciation of the manuscript.
Reviewer 3 Report
View letter
1. Line 15, whether the black plastic used is environmentally friendly, recycling is not?
2. Keyword selection is not accurate enough.
3. Line 114, is it expensive to mulched with black plastic fabric.
4. In figure 1, It is better to give a comparison of mulch and un-mulch images.
5. Line 201-202, this sentence is suitable as a note at the bottom of the table.
6. Table 1, difference analysis for upper- and lower-case letters is a little confusing. Does upper case mean 5% difference significance and lower case means 1% difference significance?
7. Table 2 also has the same problems.
8. Figure 2 and 3, what are the significances of these two graphs that we didn't see in the Discussion.
9. Line 287, the results of soil texture can be as supporting material and the high organic C has no impact on the soil texture?
10. Line 294, the soil mixing means tillage treatment?
11. In the Discussion, please give the corresponding table number for the data.
12. How do fruit trees irrigate and fertilize when the ground is covered with plastic mulch?
13. I did not see the results of the effect of mulching on weed growth.
Author Response
Response to Reviewer 3 Comments
Dear Reviewer,
on behalf of all the Co-Authors, I would like to thank you for the suggestions and comments to our Ms. We accepted all the suggested changes and answered to yours comments. We really appreciate your suggestions that push us to improve the manuscript. Please find below the detailed reply to each comment (in black we reported your comments, in red our answers).
Sincerely
The Corresponding Author
Caterina Lucia
- Point 1: Line 15, whether the black plastic used is environmentally friendly, recycling is not?
Response 1: Accepted. We revised the sentence.
- Point 2: Keyword selection is not accurate enough.
Response 2: The Authors accepted the suggestion of the Reviewer. Keywords were modified.
- Point 3: Line 114, is it expensive to mulched with black plastic fabric.
Response 3: The Authors thank the Reviewer for his/her comment. Mulching soil with black plastic fabric is somewhat expensive but, however it becomes cost-effective after 4 years (Leslie, A.R. Handbook of integrated pest management for turf and ornamentals; Lewis Publishers, 1994). In the Conclusion section there is a sentence regarding this aspect.
- Point 4: In figure 1, It is better to give a comparison of mulch and un-mulch images.
Response 4: The Authors thank the Reviewer for his/her comment. Figure 1 was changing by adding an image of un-mulched soil.
- Point 5: Lines 201-202, this sentence is suitable as a note at the bottom of the table.
Response 5: Accepted.
- Point 6: Table 1, difference analysis for upper- and lower-case letters is a little confusing. Does upper case mean 5% difference significance and lower case means 1% difference significance?
Response 6: The Authors thank the Reviewer for his/her comment. We modified table 1 caption to better clarify the results of statistical analysis.
- Point 7: Table 2 also has the same problems.
Response 7: The Authors thank the Reviewer for his/her comment. We modified table 2 caption to better clarify the results of statistical analysis.
- Point 8: Figure 2 and 3, what are the significances of these two graphs that we didn't see in the Discussion.
Response 8: The Authors thank the Reviewer for his/her comment. Data showed in Figure 2 (line 269) and Figure 3 (line 273) are reported in the Results section. Moreover, according to the suggestion of the Reviewer Figure 2 (line 341) and Figure 3 (line 348) are cited also in the Discussion section.
- Point 9: Line 287, the results of soil texture can be as supporting material and the high organic C has no impact on the soil texture?
Response 9: The Authors thank the Reviewer for his/her suggestion. Average data about soil texture are reported at line 119. With regard to the effect of organic C on soil texture, according to the methodology used (Gee GW, Bauder JW (1986) Particle-size analysis. In: Klute A (ed) Methods of soil analysis. ASA and SSSA, Madison, WI, pp 383–411), it does not affect soil texture.
- Point 10: Line 294, the soil mixing means tillage treatment?
Response 10: The Authors thank the reviewer for his/her comment. In the new version of the manuscript we have specified that soil mixing is due to rotary tillage.
- Point 11: In the Discussion, please give the corresponding table number for the data.
Response 11: done.
- Point 12: How do fruit trees irrigate and fertilize when the ground is covered with plastic mulch?
Response 12: The Authors thank the reviewer for his/her comment. Fruit trees were irrigated by drip irrigation with hoses. Cow manure were applied by temporarily raising the geotextile mulch (lines 139-140).
- Point 13: I did not see the results of the effect of mulching on weed growth.
Response 13: The Authors thank the reviewer for his/her comment. A sentence regarding the effect of black plastic geotextile fabric on weed growth was added in the Results section.
Round 2
Reviewer 3 Report
View letter
1. Line 147 How do fruit trees fertilize when the ground is covered with plastic mulch?
2. Line 223-225, the upper-case letter and lower-case letter indicate the same significant difference? Other tables have the same problem.
3. Fig. 3 Why the variation distance for M15 0-20 and 20-40 is so bigger than those of other treatments for the relationships between relative abundance of gram positive and gram negative bacteria?
4. Whether mulching film will increase soil and water nutrient loss?
Author Response
Dear Reviewer,
on behalf of all Authors of the manuscript, let me to thank you for your suggestions that were considered in the new version of the manuscript. Please find below our answers (in blue) to your comments.
Reviewer Comment: Line 147 How do fruit trees fertilize when the ground is covered with plastic mulch?
Answer: Soil is fertilized by removing (manually) the geotextile mulch. Actually, it is quite simple to fertilize soil because geotextile mulch is manually risen thus allowing to apply the solid cow manure. We slightly modified the sentence.
Reviewer Comment: Line 223-225: the upper-case letter and lower-case letter indicate the same significant difference? Other tables have the same problem.
Answer: No. Upper-case letters indicate significant differences among management, whereas lower-case letters indicate significant differences between depths. Only the level of the significance it is the same (P<0.05).
Reviewer Comment: Fig. 3, Why the variation distance for M15 0-20 and 20-40 is so bigger than those of other treatments for the relationships between relative abundance of gram positive and gram negative bacteria?
Answer: The variation distance for M15 0-20 and 20-40 it is quite similar to that of T15 0-20 and 20-40 cm. probably this is due to that the two techniques greatly affect only the topsoil.
Reviewer Comment: Whether mulching film will increase soil and water nutrient loss?
Answer: Unfortunately we cannot to contextualize such a comment because it is not referred to any line. Comment: However, as we stated in the introduction “plastic film is effective in avoiding germination of weeds and inhibits soil water evaporation, resulting in the increase of water uptake, water use efficiency and dry matter production” (lines 75-77). On the other hand, geotextile mulching compared to tillage increases soil organic matter and, consequently, nutrients and water holding capacity because of the lower oxidation of organic matter.
