Diversification of Cultivars and Production of Male Inflorescence Flours for More Sustainable Banana Cultivation

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

1. The abstract should focus on key findings, condense them to highlight the most important results with quantitative data.
2. The introduction lacks an explanation of the research gap in detail. Please fix it.
3. Statistics related to banana production are somewhat outdated, require up-to-date information. 
4. What is the airflow rate during drying? it should be reported in the material and methods.
5. Poor presentation of factorial design description, please provide more clearly.
6. Figure 1 is redundant and poorly integrated into the main text; remove or meaningfully discuss the climate data's relevance to the study outcomes.
7. Experimental harvest timing, such as 15 to 20 days after the last hand, is somewhat confusing.
8. PCA is visually cluttered and poorly explained. Please fix it.
9. The discussion section largely restates results without critically comparing them against the latest international benchmarks or standards.
10. The manuscript does not address the bioavailability of minerals and fibers, a critical issue for assessing true nutritional value.
11. The paper mentions functional foods but makes no attempt to model or predict how the flours would perform in real food matrices.
12. The conclusion section simply repeats findings and lacks sharp future directions or hypotheses for application-based follow-up research.
13. Lots of grammatical and typo errors, the author should carefully check and fix.

Author Response

Dear Reviewer,

The authors would like to express their gratitude for taking the time to correct our manuscript in order to improve its quality.

All the changes made are marked in yellow in the text and include suggestions from three reviewers.

We hope that we have responded to your suggestions and thank you for your important collaboration.

Best regards,

Corresponding author

 

1.The abstract should focus on key findings, condense them to highlight the most important results with quantitative data.

R: Revised

2.The introduction lacks an explanation of the research gap in detail. Please fix it.

R: The text has been adjusted

3.Statistics related to banana production are somewhat outdated, require up-to-date information. 

R: Revised

4.What is the airflow rate during drying? it should be reported in the material and methods.

R: Information added

5.Poor presentation of factorial design description, please provide more clearly.

R: The text has been improved to make it easier to understand how the inflorescences are harvested in the experimental field and followed up for the production of flour.

6.Figure 1 is redundant and poorly integrated into the main text; remove or meaningfully discuss the climate data's relevance to the study outcomes.

R: Figure deleted

7.Experimental harvest timing, such as 15 to 20 days after the last hand, is somewhat confusing.

R: The time from 15 to 20 days after the last hand is issued is the time it takes for the peduncle to reach 15 cm. For better understanding, only the length of the peduncle has been kept in the text.

8.PCA is visually cluttered and poorly explained. Please fix it.

R: We try to improve visualization

9.The discussion section largely restates results without critically comparing them against the latest international benchmarks or standards.

R: The text has been revised and information added

10.The manuscript does not address the bioavailability of minerals

R: The discussion of bioavailability has been added to the text of the manuscript

11.The paper mentions functional foods but makes no attempt to model or predict how the flours would perform in real food matrices.

R: The text has been revised and information added

Reviewer 2 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

This work evaluated the physicochemical characteristics of banana male inflorescence flours of different parts including bracts, flowers and palm. The topic is interesting, and the results might be of some help for the utilization of male banana inflorescence and management of banana wastes. However, there are several issues that need to be addressed.

1. The aim of the study is unclear. According to the introduction in line 59-63, the nutritional composition of the banana inflorescence had been investigated in several literatures. However, the problems that limit the utilization of banana inflorescence and what would be dealt with were not pointed out.
2. Figure 1 and Table 1 are not necessary, since few results and discussion can be related to the characteristics of climate and cultivars. Maybe, they can be presented as supplementary files.
3. This research only determined the proximate composition and minerals. Why not include more nutritional attributes, such as bioactives, vitamins, amino acids, etc. These attributes are also very important for the utilization of banana inflorescence.
4. The differences among different cultivars need to be further discussed to interpret the ‘diversification of cultivars’ in the title.

Author Response

Dear Reviewer,

The authors would like to express their gratitude for taking the time to correct our manuscript in order to improve its quality.

All the changes made are marked in yellow in the text and include suggestions from three reviewers.

We hope that we have responded to your suggestions and thank you for your important collaboration.

Best regards,

Corresponding author

 

1. The aim of the study is unclear.

R: The Introduction of the manuscript was revised to improve understanding of the importance and objectives of the research. Studies on banana inflorescences are generally carried out with only a few cultivars and it is often unclear which parts of the inflorescence have been used, so there is a lack of information. Our results, combined with agronomic information, could contribute to better sustainability in banana cultivation, with a reduction in waste generation and an increase in profitability by using the inflorescence to obtain flours with different characteristics.

2.Figure 1 and Table 1 are not necessary, since few results and discussion can be related to the characteristics of climate and cultivars. Maybe, they can be presented as supplementary files.

R: Figure 1 has been excluded. Table 1 has been kept because it shows important characteristics of the cultivars used in the study.

3.This research only determined the proximate composition and minerals. Why not include more nutritional attributes, such as bioactives, vitamins, amino acids, etc. These attributes are also very important for the utilization of banana inflorescence.

R: Improving our knowledge of the nutritional aspects of banana flours is of great importance and should be the subject of future studies.

4.The differences among different cultivars need to be further discussed to interpret the ‘diversification of cultivars’ in the title.

R: The differences between the cultivars were highlighted.

 

Reviewer 3 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

I received for review manuscript “Diversification of cultivars and production of male inflorescence flours for more sustainable banana cultivation” The Authors investigate functional properties  of  flours obtained from inflorescence of seven botanical variety of banana.  I am not a specialist in plant cultivation, therefore my review will focus (mainly) on the research results of physicochemical analysis of flours presented (developed) by the Authors. It is typical work on the production of flours from various parts of plant. The work is interesting and written in correct way but manuscript need some correction. General remarks. The Authors present the results of chemical and physical properties of flours, but They not discuss precisely what caused the differences in values. E.g. The authors do not provide any hypotheses why are the differences in nutritional value between banana varieties (between inflorescence parts). Therefore, the results should be discussed (not just presented, and the statement that other authors obtained similar results).  Moreover the Authors should explain (emphasize) what is the novelty in this work .

Below I send some minor remarks

1)    Minerals should be changed to mineral elements

2)    Section Line 59-66 The value should be presents with less accuracy (unnecessary decimal precision) The range of value is large so…..

3)    The paragraph before aim of work (line 68-71) should contain information related to the purpose of the work

4)    Section 2.4.1. (line 144-148). The Authors should present more information on methods which were used for analyses of composition

5)    Water holding capacity  -  Why the Authors did not shake the samples (from time to time) during analysis (30 min kept in room temperature). In this analysis the sample should be stirring all time (before centrifugation)

6)    Line 141 Solubility index??? I did not find results this analysis. It is very important analysis (functional properties) like water holding capacity, so the analysis should be done (values present)

7)    Table 1 (Material and methods) Why the specification is only for 6 varieties (graphical, figure 2 also). In work analysis was done for 7 varieties

8)    The name table 1 is double

9)    Table 1 The Authors should check (and calculate again) the values for SCS – 451-Catarina

10)      The obtained results present in table 2 (mineral elements) are calculate for dry material or not. The Authors should give information.

11)      The content of ash (calculate on the dry material) was about 10%. The sum of mineral elements is about 6-7% What ingredients (mineral element (or elements) can be at the level about 2-3% ???? Why the Authors did not measure the content of Sodium (maybe this???? ) It is very important information which mineral element is contained at this level 2-3%

12)      Line 298 Why the Authors think that these amino acids are non essential I think that every amino acid is important  (for human).

13)      Line 397-401. Caramelization it is process which is take places in high temperature. The flours were not heated to such temperature. The flours were dry in temp. 50 C 

14)      The “Conclusion” Requires basic changesFood for human produced from agriculture waste?????. It sounds very unfortunate. Moreover in this chapter the Authors should present more information about differences in physicochemical properties (and nutritional value) of not only between inflorescence parts, but also between bananas botanical origin. 

Author Response

Dear Reviewer,

The authors would like to express their gratitude for taking the time to correct our manuscript in order to improve its quality.

All his suggestions have been revised and the results regarding the solubility of the flours have been added.

All the changes made in manuscript are marked in yellow in the text and include suggestions from three reviewers.

We hope that we have responded to your suggestions and thank you for your important collaboration.

Best regards,

Corresponding author

Round 2

Reviewer 1 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

Authors have responded and revised the manuscript according to the given comments. I recommend acceptance. 

Author Response

The authors would like to thank the reviewer for his favorable opinion on the publication of our manuscript and for your important contribution.

Reviewer 2 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

The authors have improved the manuscript according to the comments and answered the questions. However, the limitations of this study and future aspects need to be further strengthened.

Author Response

The authors would like to thank the reviewer for your important suggestions and for adding information on limitations and future perspectives to the manuscript.

The dissimilarities pointed out in our findings on the nutritional composition of the inflorescence flour will contribute to future advances. The existing literature on nutrients in banana inflorescences does not cover different cultivars, and there is a lack of information on the main commercial cultivars. Banana inflorescence flours are therefore a viable, low-cost solution for improving and incorporating nutrients into food products. Future perspectives, however, should include studies analyzing the nutritional efficiency of the components of these flours and the effects of processing conditions on nutrients and technological properties, in order to extend their use as a food ingredient. Furthermore, the impact of cultural practices such as fertilization and pest and disease control may interfere with the physical and nutritional characteristics of banana inflorescences, and future studies will need to integrate knowledge of these with the quality aspects of the flours.

Reviewer 3 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

I received again the manuscript to review in my opinion the Authors corrected my comments to a small scope (mainly discussion) Discussion should be the answer  to question which flour (parts of plants, or variety of bananas) is good sources of nutrients (or good sources of protein, of mineral elements….e.t.c.). In my opinion in this form the work would significantly increase scientific.  

 1) The Authors still did not describe the methods which were used to analysis composition (ash, protein, fat, fiber). They should give short information (e.g. protein by Kjeldahl, fat by Soxhlet, ash by dry mineralization etc…..) These forms give more information than only number norm AOAC….  Moreover the method of analysis mineral elements is very important (by AAS ???, what the samples were mineralization. The lack information.

2) The Authors did not check the content of sodium in flour. In my opinion it is very important information cause we do not know (still) which mineral element (or mineral elements) is contained at this level 2-3%  The Authors should explain it. Maybe these compounds can be dangerous for human body.  

3) The Authors did not describe precisely the results of WHC and solubility in water

4) The Authors did not change name minerals (in the all manuscript) “Mineral” is usually name in geology and minerology

5) Line 465 In my opinion food for human from waste fruits ????? It still sound bad. 

The chapter conclusion should give valuable information e.g. which flour (or from variety of bananas) have a higher level of protein, fat, fiber e.t.c.  Currently conclusion have no sounds

Author Response

The authors would like to thank the reviewer for your important suggestions.  Regarding the suggestions made in the second revision of the manuscript, the authors report that:

-Information on the methodologies used to analyze the flours has been added to the text.

-Information on the sodium content of the flours has been added and the mineral and ash data has been checked in our laboratory. The term mineral has also been replaced by mineral elements in the manuscript.

-The water holding capacity and solubility data have been better discussed.

-The authors added future prospects at the end of the discussion and revised the conclusions.