Effects of Potassium Application on Lilium davidii var. unicolor Growth, Polysaccharide Accumulation, and Metabolism

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

This study treated Lanzhou Lily seedlings with four different concentrations of potassium and then evaluated characteristics of growth at various times after fertilizer application.  It also looked at polysaccharide levels in the bulbs and other metabolites. Overall, the manuscript needs to have significant editing to improve the precision and clarity of the writing.  The details in the methods are insufficient in many sections.  The text in the figures is too small to read and the text is not clear (it is wavy and pixelated). Please improve the quality of the figures.  The figure legends for a manuscript should allow the reader to understand the figures content without going through all the methods and the results.  Please increase the amount of information in the figure legends.  Also, the results and discussion should be separated into two sections as is common formatting for this type of article in Horticulturae and other journals. This article represents significant work that I believe will provide a valuable scientific contribution to the field if revised.  Some specific examples and edits are presented below to help explain my comments above.

11. Abstract.  Please use standard organization for an abstract.  This section should begin with a general sentence or two about the topic (background/ introduction) and then go into methods, results, and conclusions.

22.  Please include full scientific name at first mention in the abstract, line 8.

33.  It would also be helpful to include some justification for the work (why potassium) in the abstract.

44.  Don’t need to mention var. unicolor at each mention in the abstract or throughout the paper.

55. Please look for run-on sentences and correct with proper sentence structure and punctuation.  For example, line 26 in the introduction. This should be broken into two sentences.

66.  In the introduction it looks like the effect of potassium fertilizers on polysaccharide contents in Lilium has already been published (reference #20).  Please provide more details of how this is different than your study.  Provide a statement of justification for why your study is still needed and what it is adding to the understanding in this area.

77. Is Lanzhou lily the common name for these lilies?  This is not clear. 

88. Materials and Methods. Overall, the methods could use some additional details for clarification. How many total bulbs were there in the study and how many in each treatment and at each sampling timepoint.

99. Methods, design.  The concentrations and treatment timing is not clear.  How can it be a 2X Hoagland solution when K is 2X and N and P are the same for all the treatments.  Please provide the exact recipes for your solutions and any modifications in a supplemental table. The details in lines 94 to 97 are not clear.  Also were the solutions applied only two times to seedlings?  At what interval and why two times.  If the solution is applied twice why present it as a concentration of K in mg/L instead of just indicating the total amount of K that was applied.  This part of the methods must be improved so that the treatments are understood.   Why was it applied only at seedling stage and not throughout growth?

110.    Methods.  Line 107.  How was dry lily bulb powder prepared?

111.   Methods.   Line 121 to 127 is another very long run-on sentence.  Please edit to multiple sentences.

112.   Separate results and discussion sections.

113.   Please provide some explanation of why the polysaccharide content decreases in the 75 to 135 d timepoints compared to earlier timepoints.

114.   Table 2.  Please put the days after fertilization number higher in the column or provide some horizontal separation of the treatments by days.

115.   Please look at the precision and accuracy of statements in the results and discussion.  Line 180 “As shown in fig 1 the application of potassium fertilizer significantly increased the polysaccharide content of L. davidii var unicolor bulbs……”  This is a very general statement which is not accurate at all timepoints in the figure.

116.   Line 185, “Within 60 days of fertilizer application, the polysaccharide content increased gradually in the bulbs as the potassium application rate increased…”  This is true for timepoints 15, 30 and 45 but not for 60 so this should be reworded to make it more accurate.  Within 60 days sounds like it should include the 60 d timepoint.

117.   Figure 1 legend.  Please provide more detail in this and other figure legends.  For example, include the treatment details, and the concentrations of K that correspond with K0, K1, K2 and K3.

118.   The labels in figure 4 are unreadable in the provided PDF.

119.   Section 3.4.4.  Please include in line 255 the specifics of the K applications being compared, K0 and K2 rather than saying different K application rates which might suggest all of the rates used in the paper.

220.   Figure 5 and 6.  Please make all text and labels larger font.

221.   In the conclusion, please include some more about the justification for this work, what it contributes to this field of science and what is next.

Author Response

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Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Reviewer 2 Report

The authors must add to the text of the article information (with appropriate links to publications) about the use of this type of lily in traditional medicine, indicating which organs, in what form (form), and for which diseases they are used. And also provide data on the use of this plant species as food.

It is necessary to expand information on the importance of potassium for plant growth and development. Give (briefly) data on nitrogen and phosphorus in plant life. Explaining why these elements were excluded in the experiments. If not in this publication, then in the next one, it is necessary to present the results of testing the accumulation of the desired compounds (polysaccharides) with the provision (or absence) of trace elements in plant nutrition and how this affects the growth, development and accumulation of various substances in plants.

Author Response

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Round 2

Reviewer 1 Report

The authors have adequately addressed reviewer 1 comments, except that they did not include more detail in the figure legends.  Legends should allow figures to stand on their own and be understandable without reading the entire methods and results sections.  At the very least information about the K treatments should be included.  Italicize scientific names in the discussion. 

Author Response

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Author Response File: Author Response.docx