The Combined Effect of Lighting and Zinc on the Nutritional Quality of Lettuce (Lactuca sativa L.) Grown in Hydroponics
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
Comments and Suggestions for AuthorsThe introduction lacks the explanation of why white LED lighting is important.
The material and method must be more precise and contain all necessary data.
Figures must be edited. Pay attention to the titles of the scales, as well as the fonts.
In conclusion, finally, try to summarize your results in one sentence, specifically, not in general.
Pay attention to spelling mistakes and default formatting. The text also contains terms that do not belong there.
Other comments are in the manuscript.
Comments for author File: 
Comments.pdf
Author Response
Comments 1: The introduction lacks the explanation of why white LED lighting is important.
Response 1: We added more explanation about white LED and why this light is important in lines 85-92.
Comments 2: The material and method must be more precise and contain all necessary data.
Response 2: The material and method section has been reviewed, corrected and supplemented with necessary information.
Comments 3: Figures must be edited. Pay attention to the titles of the scales, as well as the fonts.
Response 3: The figures have been corrected.
Comments 4: In conclusion, finally, try to summarize your results in one sentence, specifically, not in general.
Response 4: The study explores various biochemical analyses and their different combinations. We recognize the importance of emphasizing key aspects in our conclusions. However, summarizing these findings to capture the overall essence is challenging.
Comments 5: Pay attention to spelling mistakes and default formatting. The text also contains terms that do not belong there.
Response 5: The text has been revised and corrected for clarity and accuracy.
Comments 6: Other comments are in the manuscript.
Response 6: Thank you for your detailed and clear review, we tried to make all corrections taking into account the comments.
Reviewer 2 Report
Comments and Suggestions for AuthorsDear Editors and Authors,
I read with interest the manuscript entitled “The combined effect of lighting and zinc on the nutritional quality of lettuce (Lactuca sativa L.) grown in hydroponics”. The aim of this study was to investigate the combined effects of widespectrum white LED lighting parameters and Zn doses on the Zn accumulation, enzymatic and non-enzymatic antioxidants, sugars, and protein content of lettuce. The article's subject is important and relevant to the study area's scientific environment. Therefore, the manuscript needs some adjustments so that it can then be forwarded to the publication process. The manuscript has the potential for publication in the journal Horticulturae and needs the following adjustments:
TITLE
“Nutritional quality.” The only nutrient analyzed was Zinc. There were no other nutritional analyses. I suggest modifying the term. Insert based on the analyses carried out.
ABSTRACT
- It is not necessary to describe the treatments used in the objectives. The objective should be similar to that described in the last paragraph of the Introduction. I suggest describing the objectives and mentioning the treatments tested in another section.
- The same suggestion applies to the description of the variables analyzed.
Line 22: An effect on chlorophyll a was mentioned. This variable was not measured previously here. Only carotenoids were mentioned. Correct.
- “baby leaf stage”. How many days after planting for the plant to reach this stage? Mention.
INTRODUCTION
- What are the effects and benefits of Zn on plants? From a physiological point of view? This was not discussed here. Add a paragraph citing studies on the effect of Zn on plant physiology.
Many passages need to be referenced, and a lot of important information needs to be reviewed.
- Line 49 – 50: The reference should be mentioned at the end of the excerpt.
- Add hypotheses in the last paragraph.
- It is unnecessary to mention what was evaluated in detail in the objectives. You could use terms such as biochemical aspects and post-harvest quality. This is just an example. Review how to improve it.
MATERIAL AND METHODS
- Add the geographic coordinates of the study site.
- Add information about the cultivar used.
- What experimental design was used in this experiment?
- How many plants were used for each treatment?
- Were no growth measurements taken, such as height or number of leaves?
- Line 265: You only need to inform that you used XLSTAT. It is a program that is in conjunction with Excel. RESULTS
- Remove the lines inside the figures.
- Add lines on the X and Y axes.
I suggest redoing all the figures. You added a table inside the figure, which is incorrect and confusing. It mentions column graphs and then cites the table. The legend is very confusing. All of this will need to be redone. See examples in the articles in the area. The significance of each figure may be inserted into the graph in the upper left or right corner. Please review this.
- The units of measurement presented in each figure must be enclosed in “()”.
- Any results described must be mentioned in the Figure at the end. Of the sentence.
- In Figure 7, I suggest formatting the PCA vectors. Use arrows instead of dots.
DISCUSSION
- The first paragraph should be divided or reduced. It is too broad.
- Some information is not associated with the leading results found. This needs to be revised.
- Review this entire section.
CONCLUSIONS
Line 503 – 504: “A study found that using a 3500K light with a five ppm Zn solution resulted in a better increase in Zn accumulation in lettuce.”
What study is this? Is it the present study? If not, I suggest removing this information. This is up for discussion.
Author Response
Comments 1: ABSTRACT
- It is not necessary to describe the treatments used in the objectives. The objective should be similar to that described in the last paragraph of the Introduction. I suggest describing the objectives and mentioning the treatments tested in another section.
- The same suggestion applies to the description of the variables analyzed.
Line 22: An effect on chlorophyll a was mentioned. This variable was not measured previously here. Only carotenoids were mentioned. Correct.
“baby leaf stage”. How many days after planting for the plant to reach this stage? Mention.
Response 1: We have revised the abstract based on your comments. A more detailed description of the exact growing time: germination, transfer, harvesting; is provided in the methodology section of the article.
Comments 2: INTRODUCTION
- What are the effects and benefits of Zn on plants? From a physiological point of view? This was not discussed here. Add a paragraph citing studies on the effect of Zn on plant physiology.
Many passages need to be referenced, and a lot of important information needs to be reviewed.
Line 49 – 50: The reference should be mentioned at the end of the excerpt.
Add hypotheses in the last paragraph.
It is unnecessary to mention what was evaluated in detail in the objectives. You could use terms such as biochemical aspects and post-harvest quality. This is just an example. Review how to improve it.
Response 2: The introduction has been revised. Upon further investigation, it turned out that this Zn intake and bioavailability was described for newborns, so it was revised and supplemented with new knowledge for adults. Hypothese was added to the manuscript. The description has also been supplemented, and references have been added and revised.
Comments 3: MATERIAL AND METHODS
- Add the geographic coordinates of the study site.
- Add information about the cultivar used.
- What experimental design was used in this experiment?
- How many plants were used for each treatment?
- Were no growth measurements taken, such as height or number of leaves?
- Line 265: You only need to inform that you used XLSTAT. It is a program that is in conjunction with Excel.
Response 3:
Geographic coordinates added – line 84;
Information about cultivar: (Lactuca sativa, ‘Little Gem’.; CN Seeds, Ely, UK) - line 94;
The experimental design is shown in Table 1, also, the plant material and growing conditions section was supplemented with information about the number of plants and other necessary information. All treatments were grown in 4 replicates.
Plant height, leaf length, and other biometric parameters were measured, but in this manuscript it was decided to present the essential results of biometric measurements.
We use Microsoft Excel for data preprocessing and organization, and XLSTAT for statistical analysis. Therefore, both programs were mentioned in the methodology section.
Comments 4: RESULTS
- Remove the lines inside the figures.
- Add lines on the X and Y axes.
I suggest redoing all the figures. You added a table inside the figure, which is incorrect and confusing. It mentions column graphs and then cites the table. The legend is very confusing. All of this will need to be redone. See examples in the articles in the area. The significance of each figure may be inserted into the graph in the upper left or right corner. Please review this.
- The units of measurement presented in each figure must be enclosed in “()”.
- Any results described must be mentioned in the Figure at the end. Of the sentence.
- In Figure 7, I suggest formatting the PCA vectors. Use arrows instead of dots.
Response 4: Corrections were made based on the provided comments. However, we present the PCA as generated by the statistical program, incorporating examples from other articles and XLSTAT.
Comments 5:
DISCUSSION
- The first paragraph should be divided or reduced. It is too broad.
- Some information is not associated with the leading results found. This needs to be revised.
- Review this entire section.
Response 5:
The discussion section was revised.
Comments 6: CONCLUSIONS
Line 503 – 504: “A study found that using a 3500K light with a five ppm Zn solution resulted in a better increase in Zn accumulation in lettuce.”
What study is this? Is it the present study? If not, I suggest removing this information. This is up for discussion.
Response 6:
The conclusions were improved.
Round 2
Reviewer 1 Report
Comments and Suggestions for AuthorsThere are still errors in the text.
The correction of tables and graphics was not done properly.
The conclusion was not drawn in accordance with the set objective and hypothesis.
Other comments are in the text.
Comments for author File: Comments.pdf
Author Response
Comments 1: There are still errors in the text.
Response 1: Text was revised and corrected
Comments 2: The correction of tables and graphics was not done properly.
Response 2: Tables and figures were redone, and mistakes were corrected.
Comments 3: The conclusion was not drawn in accordance with the set objective and hypothesis.
Response 3: The conclusions have been revised and condensed in accordance with the comments provided by the reviewers.
Comments 4: Other comments are in the text.
Response 4: Corrections were made according to the comments.
Reviewer 2 Report
Comments and Suggestions for AuthorsThe article has been corrected. I suggest modifying the table captions. Read articles in the field to do this.
Author Response
Thank you very much for your work and valuable comments. We have re-checked the entire manuscript and corrected the tables and their descriptions.
