Assessment of Climate Adaptability in the Late-Maturing Citrus Industry in Sichuan Province
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report (Previous Reviewer 2)
Comments and Suggestions for AuthorsThe paper titled Assessment of Climate Adaptability in the Late-maturing Citrus Industry in Sichuan Province aims to evaluate the climate adaptability of late-maturing citrus fruit production in Sichuan Province, China. Utilizing meteorological data from 2010 to 2020, the study employs the DEA-Malmquist index model to assess the climate suitability and resource endowment across 18 prefecture-level cities and autonomous prefectures. The main contributions include a comprehensive analysis of climate factors affecting citrus production and the identification of policy misalignments that hinder sustainable development. Strengths of the paper include its robust methodological approach and extensive data analysis.
General Concept Comments
Methodological Inaccuracies: The study could benefit from a more detailed explanation of the DEA-Malmquist index model application, especially concerning the selection of input and output indicators.
Missing Controls: The research lacks control for variables such as soil quality and pest prevalence, which can significantly affect citrus production but are not accounted for in the climate adaptability assessment.
Testability of Hypothesis: While the paper presents a hypothesis regarding the impact of climate adaptability on citrus production, the results section does not clearly test or validate this hypothesis through statistical methods.
Relevance of Review Topic: The topic is highly relevant, given the economic importance of citrus production in Sichuan Province. The paper effectively highlights the significance of climate adaptability for sustainable agricultural practices.
Gap in Knowledge Identified: The paper successfully identifies a critical gap in the current agricultural policies that do not align with climate adaptability, leading to unsustainable practices.
Appropriateness of References: The references are mostly relevant and recent, though the paper could benefit from including more international studies on climate adaptability in agriculture to provide a broader context.
Specific Comments
Line 10: The term "resource endowment coefficient" should be clarified earlier in the text for readers unfamiliar with the concept.
Figure 1: The location map of the research area should include a scale for better geographical context.
Table 3: The table comparing the resource endowment coefficients across different regions could include a brief interpretation of the results for clarity.
Line 67: The statement regarding the indiscriminate expansion of citrus production should be supported by specific examples or case studies.
Line 175: The criteria for classifying climate suitability should include references to relevant literature to justify the chosen thresholds.
Page 2, Table 3: Add brief interpretations of the results for each region.
Page 3, Line 175: Justify the criteria for classifying climate suitability with references to relevant literature.
Page 4: My suggestion is incorporating more international studies for a broader context.
Page 5: clearly testing and validating the hypothesis with statistical methods.
Page 6: Address other impactful variables like soil quality and pest prevalence.
Page 7: Provide more details on the application of the DEA-Malmquist index model.
General Questions
Manuscript Clarity and Structure
The manuscript is generally clear and well-structured, with logical flow and appropriate section headings.
References
The cited references are mostly recent (within the last 5 years) and relevant. However, there is no excessive number of self-citations.
Scientific Soundness and Experimental Design
The manuscript is scientifically sound, and the experimental design is appropriate for the hypothesis being tested. However, more details on the methodological approach would enhance reproducibility.
Reproducibility of Results
The results are reproducible based on the details provided in the methods section. The use of the DEA-Malmquist index model is well-explained, but additional details on data preprocessing would be helpful.
Figures/Tables/Images
The figures and tables are appropriate and effectively illustrate the data. They are easy to interpret and understand, though some additional context and interpretation would improve their usefulness.
The conclusions are consistent with the evidence and arguments presented. They are logical and well-supported by the data.
Overall, the paper provides a valuable assessment of the climate adaptability of the late-maturing citrus industry in Sichuan Province. By addressing the noted weaknesses and incorporating the suggested improvements, the manuscript can significantly contribute to the field of agricultural science and policy development.
Author Response
Dear Reviewers and Editors,
I would like to express my sincere gratitude for your recognition and encouragement of my research work. Your valuable feedback has significantly enhanced the rigor and quality of my research. I wholeheartedly accept and endorse your suggested revisions, which have been diligently incorporated into the manuscript as follows:
- All modifications are highlighted in "blue" for ease of review.
- Additional explanations regarding the applicability conditions of the DEA model and requirements for indicator quantity have been included in lines 272-277 of the new paper.
- A complete paragraph has been added from lines 217-228 in the new paper to explain why, at my current level of research, I am unable to select variables such as soil quality and pest prevalence. However, I will strive to adhere to your professional advice for improvement in future research endeavors.
- Supplementary content addressing evidential issues raised by you has been added and rewritten from lines 312-340 in the new paper.
- Relevant references on classification standards have been added.
- Two additional columns have been included in Table 3 as per your suggestion, aimed at providing clearer presentation of computational results.
- The maps were enlarged in the new paper compared to the original one to ensure clear display of scale.
8.In line with your recommendation, a brief description of resource endowment has been provided on line 10 within abstract.
Once again, thank you for your scholarly guidance and rigorous academic approach; it is evident that your input has significantly improved both the standardization and scientific integrity of my research.
We confirm that neither the manuscript nor any parts of its content are currently under consideration or published in another journal.All authors have approved the manuscript and agree with its submission to Agriculture.
Please let me know of your decision at your earliest convenience.
Best regards,
Sincerely yours,
A researcher,
Yu He
College of Marxism, Sichuan Agricultural University, Sichuan Agricultural University, Group 27, Teachers' Apartment, New Campus of Sichuan Agricultural University, Zhangjiasan Road, Yucheng District, Ya'an City, Sichuan Province,China,625014, 13880@sicau.edu.cn.
Reviewer 2 Report (Previous Reviewer 3)
Comments and Suggestions for AuthorsAll suggestions and corrections were carried out
Author Response
Dear Reviewers and Editors,
I would like to express my sincere gratitude for your recognition and encouragement of my research work. Your valuable feedback has significantly enhanced the rigor and quality of my research. I wholeheartedly accept and endorse your suggested revisions, which have been diligently incorporated into the manuscript as follows:
- All modifications are highlighted in "blue" for ease of review.
- Additional explanations regarding the applicability conditions of the DEA model and requirements for indicator quantity have been included in lines 272-277 of the new paper.
- A complete paragraph has been added from lines 217-228 in the new paper to explain why, at my current level of research, I am unable to select variables such as soil quality and pest prevalence. However, I will strive to adhere to your professional advice for improvement in future research endeavors.
- Supplementary content addressing evidential issues raised by you has been added and rewritten from lines 312-340 in the new paper.
- Relevant references on classification standards have been added.
- Two additional columns have been included in Table 3 as per your suggestion, aimed at providing clearer presentation of computational results.
- The maps were enlarged in the new paper compared to the original one to ensure clear display of scale.
8.In line with your recommendation, a brief description of resource endowment has been provided on line 10 within abstract.
Once again, thank you for your scholarly guidance and rigorous academic approach; it is evident that your input has significantly improved both the standardization and scientific integrity of my research.
We confirm that neither the manuscript nor any parts of its content are currently under consideration or published in another journal.All authors have approved the manuscript and agree with its submission to Agriculture.
Please let me know of your decision at your earliest convenience.
Best regards,
Sincerely yours,
A researcher,
Yu He
College of Marxism, Sichuan Agricultural University, Sichuan Agricultural University, Group 27, Teachers' Apartment, New Campus of Sichuan Agricultural University, Zhangjiasan Road, Yucheng District, Ya'an City, Sichuan Province,China,625014, 13880@sicau.edu.cn.
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
Comments and Suggestions for AuthorsI finished the review on the paper “Evaluation of Climatic Resources Utilization Efficiency for Citrus Cultivation in Sichuan Province Based on Key Climate Factors”. Before this paper be accepted for publication, author must consider next comments:
Some things that catch my attention are: 1) in the manuscript, I do not see references in which the Resource Endowment Coefficient approach had been used; 2) in results and discusion sections use enought references, only two references are used in the current versión; 3) also, in any place is shown the advantage of the Resource Endowment Coefficient criteria with respect to other methodologies.
Title. This should be modiffied in such a way that this indicates that the paper is focussed also in the socio-economic aspects. In the current title, the reader can expect that the paper is just about agricultural meteorology.
Introduction section. Lines 45-47. Here, author starts to talk about an study on climate resource utilization efficiency, but this happens suddenly; I mean, lines 27-45 are about one topic, and then the topic changes suddenly to climate resource utilization efficiency.
Introduction. In the lines 56-58 you say “However, these studies mostly utilize meteorological data predating 2010, failing to capture the impact of recent extreme weather events on citrus production layout” which is not true at all given that currently the 1991-2020 climatological normals are already available.
Introduction section. Lines 64-72. This sounds like methodology.
Introduction section. Lines 72-75. This sounds like results description.
Introduction section. In the last pragraph the research objective is not shown clearly.
Introduction section. In the whole section I have found only five references located in the same place, furthermore all of them are about the same idea and were put in the line 56, is it too essential to put all theses references together? There are very important ideas that deserve references to support the manuscript. For example, in the first paragraph, there is information about surface citrus cultivation, and this is not supported by references. In the second paragrah there is no references, except the “The Action Plan for Promoting Agricultural Supply-side Structural Reform and Accelerating Sichuan's Agricultural Innovation and Green Development”, but it does not convince me at all given that it is not a scientific reference. Lines 56-63 shows information that sounds like an aseveration or an undoubtedly statement. In any place, theory about “Climatic Resources Utilization Efficiency” neither “Resource Endowment Coefficient” is provided. In general, this section looks very breef and does not provide with all the background required for a reader be able of understanding the research context. I suggest to re-write this section.
Materials and methods section. Lines 81-82 sound like literature review, why did not you put this in introduction? In lines 83-86 there is information that could be used as a background. Also, if what you pretend is to give information about climate, use information derived from mean climate, data whit just 10 years is not enought to talk about average cimate in a región.
Section 2.3.1. Formula 1. It would be fine to explain what variables you used to run this equation.
Resource Endowment Coefficient section. Lines 94-105. Some of this information should have been used in introduction, there is very valuable theory here.
Climate Suitability Classification section. Line 117. It would be better to explain the analysis criteria in “literature (3)”.
DEA–Malmquist section. Lines 126-181. A lot of information regarding to this, some of this could have been used in the introduction section.
Results section. Lines 188 and 189. Very short paragraph, just one line and a half.
Changes in the suitability levels of citrus climate in Sichuan Province section. Line 215 and 216. Very short paragraph, just one line and a half.
Sections 3.1, 3.2, 3.3 and 3.4. It is necessary to compare your results with the ones reported in other studies, it does not mater if these studies were carried out for another study area. Please also try to explain the reason why these results were obtained. For doing this, use references since these are missing in this section also.
Discussion and Conclusion section. Make sure that in this section you include the practical meaning of your results and the practical recommendations also. This part of your manuscript need to be supported with references also.
Author Response
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Author Response File: 
Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 2 Report
Comments and Suggestions for AuthorsDear author: I recently had the opportunity to review your manuscript titled "Evaluation of Climatic Resources Utilization Efficiency for Citrus Cultivation in Sichuan Province Based on Key Climate Factors," submitted to Agriculture. First, I want to commend you for tackling such an important and complex topic. The efficient utilization of climatic resources for agriculture, especially in a province as crucial for citrus cultivation as Sichuan, is a pressing issue, and your efforts to contribute to this field are highly appreciated.
However, upon careful examination, I identified several areas within the introduction, methods, and results sections that require attention and improvement to enhance the clarity, accuracy, and overall impact of your study. Below, I have attached and outlined my primary concerns and suggestions for each section.
Comments for author File: Comments.pdf
Moderate editing of English language required
Author Response
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Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 3 Report
Comments and Suggestions for Authors
The paper “Evaluation of Climatic Resources Utilization Efficiency for Citrus Cultivation in Sichuan Province Based on Key Climate Factors” employ the endowment coefficient, Climate Suitability Classification, and DEA-Malmquist index model to evaluate the utilization efficiency of climate resources (from 2010 to 2020 ) for citrus planting in 18 cities and prefectures of Sichuan Province, China.
In introduction is necessary to introduce previous experiences of other authors in the regionalization of citrus in other parts of the world. It is also necessary to write about the use of resource endowment coefficient model and DEA-Malmquist model.
In Materials and Methods, Study Area Overview - The 18 cities and prefectures must be located in a map, also a differentiation between cities and prefectures must be done. Also throughout the text, counties and states are mentioned. It is necessary to unify the denominations in order to avoid confusion for the reader.
It is also important to know what kind of citrus are the most planted in the study area, because climatic requirements may vary between them. There are citrus planted over an irrigated area or all citrus is cultivated in rainfed conditions? Climate Suitability Classification- Author must justify based on international literature the different values used as limit to classify the climatic variables from most suitable to unsuitable. Also base temperature of 10°C for thermal accumulation must be justified. These changes must be made taking into account that different species within the Citrus genus may have different temperature and precipitation requirements.
Results - Although the availability of yields is mentioned in the materials and methods (L88-91), the results do not analyze whether the regions determined as suitable/inadequate have corresponding yields.
Discussion and Conclusion - A more exhaustive discussion with international bibliography related to the topic of study is necessary. I leave a list (not exclusive) of bibliography that could be incorporated for this purpose. Minor comments are highlighted in the draft.
Borna, R., & Alizadeh, A. (2016). Agroclimatic zoning of citrus cultivation in Khuzestan province using AHP method. Journal of Agricultural Meteorology, 4(1), 12-21.
Carr, M. K. V. (2012). The water relations and irrigation requirements of citrus (Citrus spp.): a review. Experimental agriculture, 48(3), 347-377.
Cleves-Leguízamo, J. A., & Jarma-Orozco, A. (2014). Characterization and typification of citrus production systems in the department of Meta. Agronomía colombiana, 32(1), 113-121.
Fares, A., Bayabil, H. K., Zekri, M., Mattos-Jr, D., & Awal, R. (2017). Potential climate change impacts on citrus water requirement across major producing areas in the world. Journal of Water and Climate Change, 8(4), 576-592.
Pereira, M. S., da Silva, T. J. A., e Silva, Ê. F. D. F., Bonfim-Silva, E. M., Schlichting, A. F., & Mazzini-Guedes, R. B. (2015). Agro-climatic zoning for citriculture in the Agreste region of Pernambuco State, Brazil. African Journal of Agricultural Research, 10(25), 2506-2515.
Sharma, N., Sharma, S., & Niwas, R. (2017). Thermal time and phenology of citrus in semi-arid conditions. Journal of Pharmacognosy and Phytochemistry, 6(5), 27-30.
Shirgure, P. S. (2013). Research review on irrigation scheduling and water requirement in citrus.
Shirgure, P. S., Srivastava, A. K., & Singh, S. (2000). Water management in citrus - A review. Agricultural Reviews, 21(4), 223-230.
Comments for author File: Comments.pdf
Author Response
Please see the attached file
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
