Secondary Metabolite-Induced Osmo-Protection and Host Antioxidant Systems in Banana in Waterlogged Sodic Soils

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

The manuscript addresses a subject of interest to the scientific community and has practical application for abiotic stresses.
Some adjustments to tables and figures are necessary and are indicated in the file.

Comments for author File: Comments.pdf

Author Response

Comment 1: According to table 2 it should be 132.20        

Reply: Data matches in the text and table were corrected as per suggestion in the revised MS and highlighted in red in page no 6 and 7

 

Comment 2: According to table 2 it should be 9.0  

Reply: Data matches in the text and table were corrected as per suggestion in the revised MS and highlighted in red in page no 6 and 7

 

Comment 3: Rearrange the table to present the compounds specific to MT (6) and UTC (4) plants, followed by those that are common to both (13)   

Reply: Revised accordingly and the revised Table no. 3 has been updated as suggested by the reviewer in page no 11, 12 and 13.

 

Comment 4: Please add caption and cite in main text, ensure all Figure and citation appear in numerical order    

Reply: Caption has been added in the revised MS and also cited in the main text. Further it has also been ensured that figure and citation appeared in the consecutive order. Figure 6 was missing in the original submission which has been updated in page no. 16.

 

Comment 5: There is no Figure 5 in main text, please add and ensure all figures and citation appear in numerical order.  

Reply: Figures and captions have been corrected for all figures. Figure 5 legends have also been modified in the revised MS for better clarity and highlighted in red in page no.15.

 

Comment 6: Please include caption for figure 5      

Reply: Caption has been added for figure 5 in the revised MS and marked in page no 15.

 

Comment 7: This caption is out of place. It refers to figure 4 at the beginning of page 11.   Please move it to the correct place   

Reply: The caption has been moved to figure 4 in page 14 as pointed out by the reviewer

 

Comment 8: There is no figure 5 in main text, please add and ensure all figure and citation appear in numerical order            

Reply: Figure 5 has been added in the main text as highlighted in red in page no. 15.

 

Comment 9: Line 404: Do not italicized      

Reply: Corrected in the updated manuscript at all places.

 

Comment 10: Line 433: ?     

Reply: Punctuations were corrected as per suggestion.

Reviewer 2 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

The manuscript ‘Secondary metabolite-induced osmo-protection and host antioxidant systems in banana under waterlogged sodic soils’ showed that metabolite treatment during tissue culture organogenesis phase made significantly better growth and increased yield of plants. This research topic is very interesting.  However, the manuscript has some issues that need improvement.

 

Main comments:

1. Some literature has confirmed that stress-induced plants can generate stress-related memory and get stronger resistance. I suggest authors add the description of these backgrounds in the ‘Introduction’ section,

 

2. There are four panels inside the image of Figure 1; however, they are not explained in the corresponding caption. Please mention each panel within the figure caption to correspond with the image.

 

3. Section 2.3, 2.4, and 2.5, the authors measured the micronutrients, enzymes and organic compounds in leaves of MT-Immunized vs. Control Banana Leaves in Sodic Soils. Why did the authors  not measure them in roots of plants ? because this topic of manuscript is focused on plant growth in Sodic Soils.

 

4. Figure 2, please mark the statistical analysis in the figure.

 

5. Please check the all Figures and their citations appearing in numerical order

 

Author Response

Comment 1: The manuscript ‘Secondary metabolite-induced osmo-protection and host antioxidant systems in banana under waterlogged sodic soils’ showed that metabolite treatment during tissue culture organogenesis phase made significantly better growth and increased yield of plants. This research topic is very interesting.  However, the manuscript has some issues that need improvement.

Reply: Thanks for the positive and critical comments. All the comments suggested by the reviewer are addressed.

 

Comment 2: Some literature has confirmed that stress-induced plants can generate stress-related memory and get stronger resistance. I suggest authors add the description of these backgrounds in the ‘Introduction’ section.      

Reply: Information as per the suggestion of the reviewer has been added in the revised MS page no. 2, highlighted in red and the additional references (1, 9, 10) have been marked in the reference section (page no. 20 & 21) and accordingly referencing has been corrected.

 

Comment 3: There are four panels inside the image of Figure 1; however, they are not explained in the corresponding caption. Please mention each panel within the figure caption to correspond with the image.           

Reply: The panel description of the Figure has been indicated in the legend newly updated (page no.4) in the revised MS.

 

Comment 4: Section 2.3, 2.4, and 2.5, the authors measured the micronutrients, enzymes and organic compounds in leaves of MT-Immunized vs. Control Banana Leaves in Sodic Soils. Why did the authors not measure them in roots of plants? Because this topic of manuscript is focused on plant growth in Sodic Soils.

Reply: Root is a critical point of damage upon stress and at the time points of analysis, the root samples had maximum damage under waterlogged sodic soil conditions and the data collected at this stage would mislead the experiment and presented over and under estimates of the data while making comparisons between root of control and MT- treated. Root data was thus not included in the manuscript to avoid misinterpretations of data.

 

Comment 4: Figure 2, please mark the statistical analysis in the figure.      

Reply: Figure 2 has been replaced with fold change of ion homeostasis instead of mere nutrient status. The new updated Figure 2 is included in the revised MS (page no. 9) as the description of the text in the MS pertains to this figure. The already presented the Figure 2 of first submission has been taken to supplementary file as Supp. Fig. S1 and the subsequent supplementary figures has been labeled and revised accordingly.

 

Comment 5: Please check the all Figures and their citations appearing in numerical order.

Reply: All the figures have been revised along with their legends and captions in the revised MS as suggested by the reviewer.

Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Reviewer 3 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

The study is aimed to study the impact on the sodicity tolerance through integration of secondary metabolites in banana under waterlogged sodic soils.

Few studies were carried out about this topic. Therefore, the aim of the research is well placed.

All sections of the manuscript are well described.

References are well-placed.

However, I suggest some revisions:

·         In the ‘Introduction’ section,

o   Please add references, Lines 35-39.

·         In the ‘Results’ section,

o   The caption of some figure is absent. Please check.

o   Please verify the numeration of figure in the text

o   The quality of some figure could be improved.

·         In the ‘Discussion’ section,

o   The initial part (Lines 318-369) could be summarized.

A careful rereading of the full text of the manuscript is recommended.

Author Response

Comment 1: The study is aimed to study the impact on the sodicity tolerance through integration of secondary metabolites in banana under waterlogged sodic soils. Few studies were carried out about this topic. Therefore, the aim of the research is well placed. All sections of the manuscript are well described. References are well-placed.

Reply: Thanks for the critical comments from the reviewer. All the comments have been critically reviewed and revised in the MS.

 

Comment 2: Please add references, Lines 35-39.     

Reply: References have been added in the revised MS in sequential order (page no.2).

 

Comment 3: The caption of some figure is absent. Please check.    

Reply: Corrected and captions has been added to the figures at their appropriate places in the revised MS and highlighted in red.

 

Comment 4: Please verify the numeration of figure in the text       

Reply: Numeration of each figure has been verified carefully and corrected accordingly as per the suggestion. Figure 6 was not added in the main MS which has been added in page no.16

 

Comment 5: The quality of some figure could be improved.           

Reply: Figure quality has been improved in the updated version of the MS.

 

Comment 6: The initial part (Lines 318-369) could be summarized.           

Reply: This suggestion pertains to the initial portion of the discussion and this initial section as indicated by the reviewer has been summarized into concise format and highlighted in red in page no. 16.

 

Comment 7: A careful rereading of the full text of the manuscript is recommended.         

Reply: Care was taken to revise the manuscript to avoid typographical and linguistic errors and mistakes in latex format and the revised MS is presented in a lucid way.

Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Round 2

Reviewer 2 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

I am satisfied with the authors' responses and revision on the resubmitted manuscript. I recommend it accepted for publication.

Author Response

Comment: I am satisfied with the authors' responses and revision on the resubmitted manuscript. I recommend it accepted for publication.

Reply: Thanks for the critical comments and recommendation.