Effects of Different Levels of Thiamine Diphosphate on In Vitro Methane Reduction and Fermentation Characteristics of Korean Native Cow (Hanwoo)
, Yoo-Kyung Lee 1 and Seong-Dae Lee 1Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
Comments and Suggestions for AuthorsThe authors evaluated the effect of different addition levels of thiamine diphosphate in ruminant diets on methane emissions and ruminal fermentation characteristics using in vitro approach. The experimental set-up was rather simple but clear methodology and good implementation of described methods lead to the valuable results that authors presented very well. The investigation gave the optimal addition level but also implicates ways for further studies on this topic. Thus, the article could be interesting for academia as well as to professionals from animal feeding industry.
The layout of the work is sufficiently good. The English is that is used throughout the text is good and it does not hinder fluent reading. The authors should check the manuscript once more mostly for spelling errors. The given methodology is clear but I would suggest to make some improvement in presenting the Tables 1 and 2. The data from Table 1 is repeated again in Table 2 and also the titles of both tables are pretty much the same which could lead to confusion of potential readers. The results are presented in a way that readers could easily follow the given discussion and support the obtained conclusions. Overall, the manuscript requires minor corrections, mostly in material section which could improve the clarity for readers.
Author Response
The layout of the work is sufficiently good. The English is that is used throughout the text is good and it does not hinder fluent reading. The authors should check the manuscript once more mostly for spelling errors. The given methodology is clear but I would suggest to make some improvement in presenting the Tables 1 and 2. The data from Table 1 is repeated again in Table 2 and also the titles of both tables are pretty much the same which could lead to confusion of potential readers. The results are presented in a way that readers could easily follow the given discussion and support the obtained conclusions. Overall, the manuscript requires minor corrections, mostly in material section which could improve the clarity for readers.
Answer: Duplicate results have been removed. And the title of Table 1 has been modified to avoid confusion between Tables 1 and 2. Also, some sentences, including those in the Materials and Methods section, have been revised. Additional english proofreading was also performed.
Reviewer 2 Report
Comments and Suggestions for AuthorsThe English written need improve by a native English speaker. The title, abstract, and the key word need showed the animal.
Line 17 total gas production.
Line 19 to 20, add p value.
Line 86, the rumen fluid donor is less. Suggested the number of the donor >5.
Line 128, the in vitro, italics, double checked the manuscript.
Line 143, how many run in in vitro experiment? Are you set the blank?
Line 205, total gas production.
Figure 1 double check the in vitro dry matter disappearance, Table 3 and table 4 double check the total VFA, very high in vitro experiment. Merge table 3 and 4, these data are replicate even if there are at different times. The gas production, methane production, and total VFAs is the net production?
The methane production was related to numerous index, however, the data of this manuscript is not enough, suggested the author provided more data on NDF and ADF digestibility. Moreover, provided the bacterial community is very necessary.
The discussion is very poor.
The references need to correct following the author guideline. Double checked.
Author Response
The English written need improve by a native English speaker. The title, abstract, and the key word need showed the animal.
Answer: I changed some sentences to improve readability. I added animal (Hanwoo) in the title, abstract, and the keyword. Additional English proofreading was also performed.
Line 17 total gas production.
Answer: edited it.
Line 19 to 20, add p value.
Answer: added p value.
Line 86, the rumen fluid donor is less. Suggested the number of the donor >5.
Answer: Unfortunately, this experiment was performed with two donors due to animal number issues.
Line 128, the in vitro, italics, double checked the manuscript.
Answer: MDPI (Fermentation) does not italicize "in vitro". This can be found in Fermentation, Volume 11 (2025).
Line 143, how many run in in vitro experiment? Are you set the blank?
Answer: This in vitro experiment was conducted 1 time. Each treatment was set five bottles, and blanks were set in triplicate (Added sentence after line 143)
Line 205, total gas production.
Answer: edited it.
Figure 1 double check the in vitro dry matter disappearance, Table 3 and table 4 double check the total VFA, very high in vitro experiment. Merge table 3 and 4, these data are replicate even if there are at different times. The gas production, methane production, and total VFAs is the net production?
Answer: I tried merging Table 3 and Table 4. However, for readability, each table (Table 3 and Table 4) should be separated. When the tables are combined, they become too large and difficult to read.
The ratio of concentrate to forage in this experimental diet (substrate) is 7:3. For this reason, the digestibility and VFA content may be high. The following references support this:
- In vitro fermentation characteristics of forage/concentrate ratios: comparison of rumen and fecal inoculum (Zicarelli et al., 2011)
- Microbial profiles, in vitro gas production and dry matter digestibility based on various ratios of roughage to concentrate (Kumar et al., 2012)
- Effect of Concentrate: Roughage Ratio and the Addition of Kefir on the Production Characteristics of Ruminant in vitro (Galbi and Majeed, 2022)
The methane production was related to numerous index, however, the data of this manuscript is not enough, suggested the author provided more data on NDF and ADF digestibility. Moreover, provided the bacterial community is very necessary.
Answer: It would have been better if we had analyzed the fiber digestibility and bacterial community as you suggested, but we do not have any samples available for analysis.
The discussion is very poor.
Answer: I added a discussion section. (The discussion is limited as you suggested, since no one has studied methane reduction using thiamine diphosphate. However, this research is important as a baseline for the future studies.)
The references need to correct following the author guideline. Double checked.
Answer: I checked the references and edited wrong sentences.
Round 2
Reviewer 2 Report
Comments and Suggestions for Authorswell done！
