UV-A Supplement Improved Growth, Antioxidant Capacity, and Anthocyanin Accumulation in Purple Lettuce (Lactuca sativa L.)

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

The manuscript "UV-A supplement improved growth, antioxidant capacity and anthocyanin accumulation in purple lettuce (Lactuca sativa L.)" seems interesting, but it must be improved.

The manuscript must include all the means of abbreviations. Follow any examples.

Abstract:

What are: WRB, CK, MDA, Pn, Gs, Tr, and  Ci?

Introduction:

Please include the complete name of the:

1) enzymes: CAT, GPX, PAL, UFGT

2) genes: PAL, CHS, ANS and UFGT

The results and Discussion section seem to be a mix in the text. Please correct that:

1) Table 2 appears before Table 1 (inside Discussion).

2) Figure 6 is inside the discussion section

The values in Tables 1 and 2 must simplify the number according to the error as follow:

245±8  instead 245.3±7.6 

128±2 instead 128.3±2.10

There is no sense in error with 2 or 3 digits/decimals.

Author Response

Please see the attachment.

Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Reviewer 2 Report

The authors' study is devoted to the study of the influence of UV-A spectrum on the accumulation of anthocyanins and antioxidant activity. To date, there is already a huge amount of research in this direction (https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Lyudmila-Plotnikova/publication/352097036_THE_EFFECT_OF_LEDS_AND_UV-RADIATION_ON_THE_GROWTH_AND_BIOCHEMICAL_PARAMETERS_OF_LETTUCE_LACTUCA_SATIVA_L/links/6195f6d83068c54fa5f9d901/THE-EFFECT-OF-LEDS-AND-UV-RADIATION-ON-THE-GROWTH-AND-BIOCHEMICAL-PARAMETERS-OF-LETTUCE-LACTUCA-SATIVA-L.pdf; https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0308814620325899; https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0472/12/10/1620; https://www.mdpi.com/2311-7524/8/5/435) and the results obtained by the authors are largely similar, the presented scientific work is another example of the previously studied parameters of the influence of light of different spectral composition on the growth and accumulation of metabolites by plants. In my opinion, the scientific novelty of the study is not high, despite the wide range of additionally applied methods. The ability to apply a wide range of methods is certainly a plus of the work, but does not make a significant contribution to the purpose of the work. The article also contains some stylistic and grammatical flaws:

1. Uncommon abbreviations should be removed from the abstract (WRB)

2. Line 65, what the authors meant by the term "seaveal", perhaps this is a translation error

3. Line 181, the same question on the phrase "eye tissue"

4. In Figure 1, for better information, a scale should be given, since without it the difference in tissue thickness is not so obvious.

Author Response

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Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Reviewer 3 Report

The present study evaluated a effect of UV-A light on some traits of lettuce plant. The authors concluded that ‘4.3. UV-A supplementary is an ideal strategy to improve growth and quality in purple lettuce’.  The manuscript is prepared carelessly; the rules of the Horticulturae on the design of References are not observed.

Fundamental comment:

Light treatments are not described in the section Material and methods. The growth conditions of CK, WRB, UV1 and so on are not presented.

How long the plants were treated? How old the plants used for measurements were? And so on..

Other comments:

Line 8. What does the changed font in  LI Qing-ming means?

Line 13. What does WRB means?

Line 21. Use ‘SUV₁’ SUV1’;

Line 17-19, 81, 179-181, 222-22, 329-330, 335-337 and so on: The sentences need corrections;

Line 72-73. Please, add the References;

Line 114-119. From this part, it is not clear for what this was done;

Line 120. That "routine management" lasted 25 days?

Line 207-209 and throughout the text. Since there is no description of treatments in the section MandM, it is not clear what CK, WRB, SUV1 and so on  means;

Line 303. Please, correct Reference;

It is hard to find table 1;

Fig.6 repeats Fig.5;

The title ‘4.3. UV-A supplementary is an ideal strategy to improve growth and quality in purple lettuce’ is pretentious and does not reflect the content of the subsection

Author Response

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Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Round 2

Reviewer 2 Report

The authors have corrected all the previously mentioned comments

Author Response

Thank you very much once again!

Reviewer 3 Report

Fig 5 is not clear

Author Response

Thanks again, we revised and provided original Fig 5.