The Effect of Boron on Fruit Quality: A Review

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

This review synthesizes current knowledge on boron absorption pathways, its role in cellular structures (particularly the cell wall and membrane), its impacts on flowering and fruit set, and the physicochemical properties of fruits, as well as its function in mitigating physiological disorders. Particular emphasis is placed on elucidating boron's influence on fruit quality attributes.

 

The following concerns need to be addressed before it can be considered for publication.

 

Figure 2 catalogs recent studies on boron's effects across various fruit species, however, its current presentation leans toward a descriptive enumeration with limited analytical depth. It is recommended be enhanced by either:

(a) Integrating findings from cited literature, or
(b) Reorganizing the Ref. under a categorical framework (e.g., physiological, biochemical, and quality-related impacts) to augment informational richness.

 

The presentation in Figure 3 would benefit from incorporating ranges of effects across multiple studies rather than single-source data. In addition, there are several issues that need to be considered:

(a) “Mass Loss”: Current labeling of "-6% in pears" creates ambiguity when control shows -18% of .

(b) “Color”: Description of the effect of B On fruit color should adopt physical colorimetric parameters (e.g., CIE  CIE L*a*b*) rather than anthocyanin content, as the latter constitutes a chemical attribute.

(c) Chemical properties typically encompass sugars, acids, pigments, vitamins, and phenolic compounds, etc. The classification of reduced respiration rate under this category warrants reconsideration. Additionally, given boron's interactions with phenolic metabolism and mineral nutrient uptake, inclusion of these relationships in Figure 2 is recommended.

Author Response

Responses to Reviewer 1

Figure 2 was modified following the reviewer's recommendations.

Figure 3 was modified to make it more explicit and provide more information.

Reviewer 2 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors The manuscript entitled “Effect of Boron on Fruit Quality: A Review” presents a comprehensive review of the role of boron in fruit quality. However, before its publication, I suggest some changes.   1. Reorganize the thematic structure to avoid overlapping information. For example, the effects of boron on the cell wall, membrane, and metabolism are discussed in different sections but with repetitive arguments.   2. Include a section on the interaction between boron and other nutrients about fruit quality.   3. The conclusions section summarizes the effects of boron but does not outline future research directions.   4. Standardize the abbreviation for boron (B) throughout the article, and begin sentences with "boron" written in full.

Author Response

Responses to Reviewer 2

1. Redundant texts that discussed the same topics in different sections were removed from the article to improve understanding.

2. The section on the interaction between B and other nutrients was not included because it is explicit within the text. There is also the article titled "Role of boron and its interaction with other elements in plants" by Vera-Maldonado et al. (2024), as well as the article titled "Interaction between Boron and Other Elements in Plants" by Long and Peng (2023), and the chapter "Chapter 12 - Agronomic aspects of boron: fertilizers, agronomical strategy, and interaction with other nutrients" by Mousavi et al. (2022), which would mean repeating information.
3. The conclusions included possible lines of research to pursue on the topic of boron in fruit quality.
4. The abbreviation for boron was standardized throughout the article.

Round 2

Reviewer 1 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

Figures 2 and 3 exhibit notable improvements. To ensure structural consistency, it is recommended that the 'MAIN FUNCTION OF BORON' panel in Figure 2 be subdivided into 'GROWTH', 'REPRODUCTION', and 'FRUIT QUALITY' categories, while the 'RESULTS' section should be positioned independently outside the functional classification framework."

Author Response

Suggestions for the correction of Figure 2 were addressed.

Reviewer 2 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

The review has been done, and I agree with the publication of the article.

Author Response

Thank you for reviewing our manuscript.