Beyond Peat: Wood Fiber and Two Novel Organic Byproducts as Growing Media—A Systematic Review

 crop´s performance are little more background information:  the role of growing media for nutrition and root development

Thank you for the suggestion. We have added a brief background on how growing media influence nutrient availability and root development, which are key factors in crop performance

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the cost of growing media   

Amended: We have added a short section discussing the cost of different growing media and their implications for production economics

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Keywords: I suggest change wood fiber for sawdust

Thank you! Done

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Page 3 line 99, I suggest “by-products” in order to be consistent in the text from the complete document.

Thank you! done

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On page 3, line 110, I suggest splitting this paragraph starting at Several standard growing media… and including some cites at the end of this new paragraph to support the information about the three mentioned materials.

We have split the paragraph at the recommended point and added relevant citations to support the information on the three mentioned materials

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Page 3 line 131, Eliminate point before the word Methodology.

Thank you! done

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Page 6 line 206, I suggest include one or two more cites to support seedling production of forest shrubs and trees in order to have a better balance compared to vegetables and ornamentals

Done : González-Orozco, M. M., J. Á. Prieto-Ruíz, A. Aldrete, J. C. Hernández-Díaz, J. A. Chávez-Simental, and R. Rodríguez-Laguna. 2018. Nursery production of Pinus engelmannii Carr. with substrates based on fresh sawdust. Forests 9 (11), 678. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/f9110678

Reference n. 16

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Page 7 and 8 lines 251-296, I suggest split this long paragraph in order to make it more understandable.

Thank you! Done

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Page 9 line 338, “density of 0.18 g cm-³ and a particle density of 0.71 g/cm³”, look for consistency in the units. Furthermore, review all this section to correct super indices in lines 344, 346, 352, 353, 354. Review also signs (^-1).

Thank you! Done.

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Page 11 lines 412-413, review scientific names italics.

Thank you! Done.

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Page 11 line 457, review units (0.129-0.159 g cm-3).

Thank you! Done.

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The English is fine in general, but could be improved if a native English speaker reviews the document.

Thank you for the observation. We have carefully revised the manuscript to improve clarity and flow.

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Reviewer no 2

1 clearer thematic subdivisions and the inclusion of a more coherent conceptual framework linking substrate properties to practical applications.

Done: a paragraph titled “Practical applications” was added to the manuscript for each organic by-product

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2 Certain sections are overly descriptive and would be strengthened by a more critical synthesis of the literature.

Thank you for the valuable feedback. In response, we have substantially rewritten the manuscript to reduce overly descriptive sections and provide a more critical synthesis of the literature throughout.

3 The addition of comparative tables or illustrative figures is recommended to enhance clarity and readability.

Done

Figure 1. – Wood fiber (a), coffee silverskin (b) and  brewer’s spent grain; Figure 2. Keywords references (%) divided into categories of interest: (a) potted growing media; (b) agro-environmental sustainability; (c) forestry and agro-industry by-products; (d) conventional and unconventional organic matrices as WF, CS, and BSG. Figure 3. Overview of agricultural applications for the three organic materials. (a), Wood fibre (WF) is used predominantly in horticultural practices, with 91% applied to ornamental plants and vegetable production. (b) presents data on coffee silverskin (CS), where soil amendments and composting account for 49% of its agricultural uses, and peat replacement represents 17%. (c) shows that brewer’s spent grain (BSG) is primarily utilized as a fertilizer, making up 44% of its reported agricultural application. Table 1. Wood fiber physical and hydrological characterization.            Table 2. Wood fiber chemical characterization. Table 3. Coffee silverkin physical and hydrological characterization. Table 4. Coffee silverskin chemical characterization. Table 5. Brewer’s spent grain physical and hydrological characterization. Table 6. Brewer’s spent grain chemical characterization. Table 7. Comparative Analysis of Coffee Silverskin, Brewer's Spent Grain, and Wood Fiber as Alternative Organic Materials for Growing Media.

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4. Several recent studies (post-2022) concerning bio-based and circular-economy-derived substrates appear to be missing and should be incorporated

Done: we added references no. 73,79,110

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5. The conclusions would be more impactful if they emphasized key research gaps and outlined technological challenges for future investigation

We have revised the conclusion to highlight key research gaps and outline major technological challenges that warrant further investigation

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Reviewer no 3

1.full of very long paragraphs. For example, part 3.3 comprised a single paragraph of more than 40 lines. The author may want to break it into shorter paragraphs

Done: we had created sub-paragraphs as:

-        Physical, hydrological and chemical characterization

-        Physical and hydrological characterization

-        Chemical characterization

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2. The manuscript lacks summarization

Thank you for pointing this out. We have added summarizing statements throughout the manuscript, particularly at the end of key sections, to improve clarity and cohesion

3. summarize the literature using tables or figures,

We added 7 Tables that summarize the references

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4. The flow structure should be more logical

We have reorganized the manuscript to improve the logical flow and coherence of the content.

5. In crop performance, for example, line 257-259, the authors talked about porosity, which I believe is a physical property.

Thank you for the clarification. We have revised the text at lines 257–259 (old manuscript) to clearly specify porosity as a physical property of the growing media.

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6. Alignment of Figure 1 and 2 needs to be modified. They occupy a large space, and size of each figure was not consistent.

We have adjusted the alignment and resized Figures to ensure consistency and better use of space in the manuscript.

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7. Line 171: I am confused about this sentence. “2017 3 Mm3y-1 to 30 Mm3y-1 by 2050”, please double check if the unit is correct.

Thank you. Done

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