Supplemental Light Differentially Regulates Indoor-Grown Basil (Ocimum basilicum) Growth, Volatile Compounds, and Sensory Attributes

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

Here are some questions and suggestions for your reference.

1. Line 21 “FR light increased PSII efficiency by 34.3%”, this conclusion is for Amethyst only. But, “indicating FR light’s impactful role on growth and photosynthetic performance”! So, what is for Prospera?
2. Introduction, line 69 “BL light enhances chlorophyll content”. Please Cite supporting literature.
3. In this study, two basil cultivars, Prospera and Amethyst, were chosen as materials, Please explain why these two materials were chosen and what are their different requirements for lighting? Or do they react differently to specific light qualities?
4. Specify exact spectral ranges (nm) for all light types (BL, GR, FR, white) in Table 1 or Methods (2.2). Currently, only peak wavelengths are provided.
5. Line 204: "tri-phase SPME fiber" – Please use standard term: "triple-phase" (DVB/CAR/PDMS)
6. Line 220: Specify the number of technical replicates per biological replicate for GC-MS
7. Line 320 (Fig 1): Define error bars in captions (SD? SE?).
8. Line 355: "allo-ocimene" – Ensure consistent spelling (e.g., Line 353 uses "allo-octinene").
9. Clarify if HW (high white) is identical to LW (low white) in spectrum but higher intensity.
10. Fig 3: Caption cut off (Line 320). Include full description.
11. Fig 5-6: Axes mislabeled (Dim 1/Dim 2 % variance swapped in captions vs. plots).
12. Table 1: Add a footnote defining "–" as "not added."
13. Supplementary Data Accessibility …(Lines 343, 352, Supp. TablesCritical supplementary tables volatile compounds, aroma attributes) are referenced but not provided. These must be included for reproducibility)

Author Response

We thank you for the suggestions. Please see our responses to your comments below, in red.

Line 21 “FR light increased PSII efficiency by 34.3%”, this conclusion is for Amethyst only. But, “indicating FR light’s impactful role on growth and photosynthetic performance”! So, what is for Prospera?

We addressed this change by adding the percent change for Prospera basil. Please see track changes.

Introduction, line 69 “BL light enhances chlorophyll content”. Please Cite supporting literature.

We clarified that blue light increases chlorophyll a content (chl a:b), which is supported by the citation provided (#23 and #24). Please see track changes.

In this study, two basil cultivars, Prospera and Amethyst, were chosen as materials, Please explain why these two materials were chosen and what are their different requirements for lighting? Or do they react differently to specific light qualities?

Please see track changes. We picked these two cultivars due to their commercial relevance and their different pigment profiles (green vs. purple)

Specify exact spectral ranges (nm) for all light types (BL, GR, FR, white) in Table 1 or Methods (2.2). Currently, only peak wavelengths are provided.

The spectral ranges are listed in the caption for Table 1.

Line 204: "tri-phase SPME fiber" – Please use standard term: "triple-phase" (DVB/CAR/PDMS)

Please see track changes. We corrected this.

Line 220: Specify the number of technical replicates per biological replicate for GC-MS

Please see track changes. We indicated the number of replicates.

Line 320 (Fig 1): Define error bars in captions (SD? SE?).

Please see track changes. We indicated that they are SE.

Line 355: "allo-ocimene" – Ensure consistent spelling (e.g., Line 353 uses "allo-octinene").

We did not notice any instances of “allo-octinene” in the paper. Please clarify in case we missed something.

Clarify if HW (high white) is identical to LW (low white) in spectrum but higher intensity.

It is the same spectrum but higher intensity. We clarified this in section 2.2.

Fig 3: Caption cut off (Line 320). Include full description.

We inserted a page break so the entire caption is on the same page.

Fig 5-6: Axes mislabeled (Dim 1/Dim 2 % variance swapped in captions vs. plots).

We corrected this. Please see track changes.

Table 1: Add a footnote defining "–" as "not added."

We added this to table 1. Please see track changes.

Supplementary Data Accessibility …(Lines 343, 352, Supp. TablesCritical supplementary tables volatile compounds, aroma attributes) are referenced but not provided. These must be included for reproducibility)

The supplemental tables are provided as separate excel document. We included them again.

Reviewer 2 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

Dear authors,

I have carefully read your manuscript entitled “Supplemental light differentially regulates indoor-grown basil (Ocimum basilicum) growth, volatile compounds, and sensory attributes”, which studies the effects of supplemental light spectra on the growth, photosynthetic efficiency, volatile compound profile, and sensory characteristics of two basil cultivars under controlled environment agriculture conditions.

The topic is relevant to the Journals scope, is well-designed, clearly written, and the results are presented in a logical and coherent manner. I consider the manuscript to be of good quality and suitable for publication, following minor revisions.

Below, I provide a few comments and suggestions that I believe will help further improve the clarity and precision of your work.

•Please add the differences in the form of letters in Table 1.
• Replace “honestly significant difference” with the simpler abbreviation “HSD”.
• You may replace the phrase “Means are an average of 10 samples per treatment and cultivar” with “n = 10” at the end of the figure caption, as shown below:
Means with different letters within a cultivar are significantly different based on Tukey’s honestly significant difference test (α = 0.05). No letters indicate that no significant differences were found. (n = 10)

• In the graphs, the y-axes should end with tick marks (graduations).
• For Figures 5 and 6, please distinguish between subfigures A and B in the figure caption.
• In line 484, it would be helpful to add a reference, if available.

Author Response

We thank you for the suggestions. Please see our responses to your comments below, in red.

Please add the differences in the form of letters in Table 1.

Thank you for the suggestion but we believe using letters of significance here is inappropriate because we did not perform statistical analysis to determine any differences. The ± is included to show the standard deviation (or variability) in individual light measurements that were taken to calculate the averages.

Replace “honestly significant difference” with the simpler abbreviation “HSD”.

We corrected this. Please see track changes.

You may replace the phrase “Means are an average of 10 samples per treatment and cultivar” with “n = 10” at the end of the figure caption, as shown below:
Means with different letters within a cultivar are significantly different based on Tukey’s honestly significant difference test (α = 0.05). No letters indicate that no significant differences were found. (n = 10)

Please see track changes. We made this change.

In the graphs, the y-axes should end with tick marks (graduations).

We decided not to include tick marks at the end of the y-axis because no y-value value is labeled at the end of the axis. It was also because of stylistic preferences.

For Figures 5 and 6, please distinguish between subfigures A and B in the figure caption.

Please see track changes. We distinguished subfigures in the caption.

In line 484, it would be helpful to add a reference, if available.

Citation number 51 is used as a reference for that line as well. We added it again for clarity.

Reviewer 3 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

It would be advisable to provide additional details regarding the panelists, such as the number of participants, their age, gender, and level of training or expertise.

In the Materials and Methods section, it would be advisable to include information about the time of the day (morning or afternoon) and method of harvest, as these factors can significantly influence the performance and the volatile components of the essential oil aroma.

Future studies should address the influence of light quality on shelf life and postharvest technologies, with the goal of maintaining product quality throughout the supply chain, including storage, marketing, and final delivery to consumers.

After minor improvement manuscript can be publish !!!!!

Author Response

We thank you for your comments and suggestions. Please see our responses below in red.

It would be advisable to provide additional details regarding the panelists, such as the number of participants, their age, gender, and level of training or expertise.

We provide what details we can about their age, gender, and amount of training in the materials and methods section 2.5. in the second paragraph.

In the Materials and Methods section, it would be advisable to include information about the time of the day (morning or afternoon) and method of harvest, as these factors can significantly influence the performance and the volatile components of the essential oil aroma.

We indicated that the samples were collected at 9:00 am. Please see track changes.

Future studies should address the influence of light quality on shelf life and postharvest technologies, with the goal of maintaining product quality throughout the supply chain, including storage, marketing, and final delivery to consumers.

We agree. These studies would be very interesting. We added a few words about the shelf life.

Reviewer 4 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

The manuscript is well written and addresses a relevant topic. However, I have highlighted a few minor suggestions for correction to make it suitable for publication in the Horticulturae journal.

Comments for author File: Comments.pdf

Author Response

We thank you for your comments and suggestions. Please see our responses below in red.

Comments to authors: The manuscript is well written and addresses a relevant topic. However, I have highlighted a few minor suggestions for correction to make it suitable for publication in the Horticulturae journal.

Abstract: In the “Abstract” section, it is recommended to include concise information about the methodology, particularly the experimental design and treatments analyzed, to contextualize the study better. It is also suggested to reduce the description of the results, prioritizing only the most relevant findings.

We included information about the materials and methods such as the crops used and the light treatments, which are the focus of this study. We decreased the amount of results presented here as well. Please see track changes.

Introduction: Well-structured introduction, with appropriate contextualization of the topic, clear presentation of the hypothesis, and objective definition of the research goals.

Materials and Methods: It is recommended to include the geographical coordinates and the elevation of the experimental site to improve the characterization of the study área.

This experiment was conducted inside a fully controlled growth chamber that was inside of a building, so we don’t think its necessary to include this detailed geographical information. We indicate the research center, city, and state, and country where the experiment was conducted.

Line 194: Adjust the citation to match the journal’s formatting style, using numbered references instead of the author name and year.

Please see track changes. We corrected this.

Results: The results are presented clearly and objectively, highlighting the percentage increases among the most relevant treatments, which facilitates understanding of the observed effects.

Discussion: The discussions are well-structured and theoretically grounded, providing coherent support for the results obtained.

Conclusions: I recommend revising the conclusion to better align it with the study’s objectives. It is also important to clearly state whether the hypothesis presented in the introduction was confirmed or rejected based on the results.

We added some information about our hypotheses in the conclusion. Please see track changes.