Implementing Internet of Things for Real-Time Monitoring and Regulation of Off-Season Grafting and Post-Harvest Storage in Citrus Cultivation: A Case Study from the Hilly Regions of Nepal

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

Although the results obtained are not surprising and the analyses carried out are not very advanced, I thin that the article is interesting.

I propose to include some improvements:

- the Discussion section lacks reference to the results of other authors,

- if the authors decided to include a Conclusions section, it should be slightly longer,

 - it would be valuable to point out the limitations (drawbacks) of this kind of research (I think it's always possible to point that out 😉 ),

 

Minor:

- I propose to discard Figure 1 - it does not contribute much,

- get a font for editorial requirements. E.g. line 220, 231

- correct the title of table 2,

- keywords overlap with the title. Changing the set of keywords will increase the 'visibility' of this article,

Author Response

Reviewer 1 Comments and Suggestions 1.1

I propose to include some improvements:

- the Discussion section lacks reference to the results of other authors,

- if the authors decided to include a Conclusions section, it should be slightly longer,

 - it would be valuable to point out the limitations (drawbacks) of this kind of research (I think it's always possible to point that out ? ),

  Author’s Response: Thank you for your constructive feedback and valuable suggestions. We have carefully considered your comments and made the following revisions:

• The Discussion section has been revised.

• The Conclusions section has been expanded to provide a more comprehensive summary of our findings and recommendations.

• We have included a limitation section in the revised manuscript

Reviewer 1 Comments and Suggestions 1.2

Minor:

- I propose to discard Figure 1 - it does not contribute much,

- get a font for editorial requirements. E.g. line 220, 231

- correct the title of table 2,

- keywords overlap with the title. Changing the set of keywords will increase the 'visibility' of this article,

Author’s Response: The authors are very grateful for the valuable suggestions. Based on the suggestions, the following changes have been made:

• Figure 1 has been removed, as suggested. Originally, this figure was included to illustrate a real scenario.

• The font (line 215,233) and title of Table 2 have been amended and highlighted in the revised version.

• The set of keywords have been updated with more relevant terms to enhance the article's visibility.

Authors would once again like to thank you for your constructive feedback.

Reviewer 2 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

This paper examines the use of IoT technology in the off-season grafting and post-harvest storage of citrus, focusing particularly on mandarin oranges in Nepal.

I would like to make the following comments and suggest the following improvements and corrections:

·         Line 95: Add commas for better readability:

Change from: “The National Research Citrus Program (NCRP) a government body of Nepal is working towards to uplift the overall citrus farming” to “The National Research Citrus Program (NCRP), a government body of Nepal, is working towards to uplift the overall citrus farming”.

·         Figure 1: Add a copyright info to the presented picture (see Literature Ref 12).

·         Line 160: Add an explanation about the “Light Saturation Point (LSP)”.

Example: After the sentence “It was found that 100 μmol m−2 s−1 blue LED light ...” add the explanation of the LSP like as:

The value "μmol m−2 s−1" expresses the light saturation point (LSP).

The LSP is the point at which the photosynthesis rate does not increase any further despite increasing light intensity. When this point is reached, the photosynthesis rate curve becomes flat.

·         Line 178: Add a literature or web reference for the PRISMA guidelines.

·         Line 178: Add a literature or web reference for the Scopus database.

·         Line 216: Add the full version of AP - Precision Agriculture.

For example: It also outlines open research issues and future scopes in implementing Precision Agriculture (PA) [33].

·         Line 225: Add the full version of ICT - Information and Communications Technology

·         Line 243: The IoT system is developed and hosted in the cloud server.

The IOT system is located at the farm side, the data are hosted on the cloud server. Better: The IoT system is developed and the generated data is hosted in the cloud server.

·         Table 1: Confusing temperature values

In line 48 you stated that the outside temperature in the hilly areas of Nepal is between 15 and 30 degrees Celsius.

Why is the temperature for room storage only between 15-29 degrees Celsius?

Why is the temperature for room storage lower than in the basement?

What do you mean for the temperature in the cold chamber by 10-Dec?

Please explain the values.

·         Line 339: The sentence on line 339 to line 342 is a repetition of the same sentence from line 336 to line 339. Please rework the section.

Line 417: Write "physiological weight loss (PWL)" with capital letters such as "physiological weight loss (PWL)".

·         Table3: Please add explanations about the values in the table:

What das the TSS/TA express?

What dose a value of 8,12 and of 15.24 say?

What is SEM(+-),

What is the F-value?

What is the LSD value?

What means ns?

What means DMRT?

Remember that the table reflects the most important study results. Explain how these values ​​are to be interpreted.

The same applies to the diagrams Figures 7 to 11. What can be derived from these diagrams? Share some interesting information!

·         Figure 12: Inconstances between this figure and the Figure 13.

Figure 12 shows a temperature range of 7 to 10 degrees Celsius, but the dashboard in Figure 13 shows a temperature range of 4.1 to 11.3 degrees Celsius. A bit confusing.

Overall, a good research report on the study of monitoring methods for mandarin farming. The manuscript should be expanded with sufficiently detailed description of the research results.

The manuscript is written in a well readable manner, only the results could be more explained in detail.

References are checked only randomly. All tested references were found.

From my point of view, the manuscript can be, after a major rework, released for publication.

 

Author Response

Reviewer 2 Comments and Suggestions

This paper examines the use of IoT technology in the off-season grafting and post-harvest storage of citrus, focusing particularly on mandarin oranges in Nepal.

I would like to make the following comments and suggest the following improvements and corrections:

 Comments and suggestions 2.1:  Line 95: Add commas for better readability:

Change from: “The National Research Citrus Program (NCRP) a government body of Nepal is working towards to uplift the overall citrus farming” to “The National Research Citrus Program (NCRP), a government body of Nepal, is working towards to uplift the overall citrus farming”.

Author’s Response: The authors would like to thank you for your detailed suggestions. We have modified the text accordingly,( line 97 Now)

Comments and suggestions 2.2:  Figure 1: Add a copyright info to the presented picture (see Literature Ref 12).

Author’s Response: We appreciate your suggestion. As you pointed out, another peer reviewer also suggested that it would be better to discard the figure as it does not contribute much. Therefore, we have decided to remove it.

·       Comments and suggestions 2.3:  Line 160: Add an explanation about the “Light Saturation Point (LSP)”.

Example: After the sentence “It was found that 100 μmol m−2 s−1 blue LED light ...” add the explanation of the LSP like as:

The value "μmol m−2 s−1" expresses the light saturation point (LSP).

The LSP is the point at which the photosynthesis rate does not increase any further despite increasing light intensity. When this point is reached, the photosynthesis rate curve becomes flat.

Author’s Response: Thank you for the suggestion. It has been included in the revised manuscript.(Line 163-165)

 

Comments and suggestions 2.4: 

·         Line 178: Add a literature or web reference for the PRISMA guidelines.

·         Line 178: Add a literature or web reference for the Scopus database.

Author’s Response: We appreciate the suggestion and Citation for PRISMA guidelines and Scopus database is added in revised manuscript. [24, 25]

 Comments and suggestions 2.4:

·         Line 216: Add the full version of AP - Precision Agriculture.

For example: It also outlines open research issues and future scopes in implementing Precision Agriculture (PA) [33].

·         Line 225: Add the full version of ICT - Information and Communications Technology

Author’s Response: Thank you for the suggestion. We have amended it. Now in line (218,227)

Comments and suggestions 2.5:

     Line 243: The IoT system is developed and hosted in the cloud server.

The IOT system is located at the farm side, the data are hosted on the cloud server. Better: The IoT system is developed and the generated data is hosted in the cloud server.

Author’s Response: Thank you for this. The sentence is now revised as line (246-247)

 Comments and suggestions 2.6:

 Table 1: Confusing temperature values

In line 48 you stated that the outside temperature in the hilly areas of Nepal is between 15 and 30 degrees Celsius.

Why is the temperature for room storage only between 15-29 degrees Celsius?

Why is the temperature for room storage lower than in the basement?

What do you mean for the temperature in the cold chamber by 10-Dec?

Please explain the values.

Author’s Response: Thank you for your valuable suggestion and for highlighting this issue. The actual temperature data was mistakenly switched between room and cellar storage, which has now been corrected. Additionally, the temperature in the cold chamber is 10-12 degrees Celsius, which was unfortunately converted to "10-dec" in the Excel spreadsheet. This has also been revised.

Comments and suggestions 2.7:

·         Line 339: The sentence on line 339 to line 342 is a repetition of the same sentence from line 336 to line 339. Please rework the section.

Author’s Response: Thank you for highlighting this. The repeated sentence has been removed and the section is rewritten now.[line 326-335,341]

Comments and suggestions 2.8:

Line 417: Write "physiological weight loss (PWL)" with capital letters such as "physiological weight loss (PWL)".

Author’s Response: Thank you, it has been corrected.

·  Comments and suggestions 2.9:

       Table3: Please add explanations about the values in the table:

What das the TSS/TA express?

What dose a value of 8,12 and of 15.24 say?

What is SEM(+-),

What is the F-value?

What is the LSD value?

What means ns?

What means DMRT?

Remember that the table reflects the most important study results. Explain how these values ​​are to be interpreted.

The same applies to the diagrams Figures 7 to 11. What can be derived from these diagrams? Share some interesting information!

Author’s Response: We highly appreciate your suggestion and a section has been added in the revised manuscript to make it more insightful.

Comments and suggestions 2.10:

Figure 12: Inconstancies between this figure and the Figure 13.

Figure 12 shows a temperature range of 7 to 10 degrees Celsius, but the dashboard in Figure 13 shows a temperature range of 4.1 to 11.3 degrees Celsius. A bit confusing.

Author’s Response: Thank you for the suggestion. The figures are used for illustration from different dates and time interval therefore the data visualized has been different. This statement has been added to avoid the ambiguity in the revised paper.

Reviewer 3 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

** must reference figure numbers in text, e.g. add “Figure 1 shows rotten fruits” at end of line 100

** Line 242: remove “contain” word

** Line 246: remove “The” before “Figure 2”. Just use “Figure 2” for proper English

** Line 253: remove the word “Materials”. It is irrelevant

** Line 277: remove the word “Materials”. It is irrelevant

** Line 351: remove “The” before “Figure 5”. Just use “Figure 5” for proper English

** Line 362: remove “The” before “Figure 6”. Just use “Figure 6” for proper English

** Line 395: remove word “below”. Not needed

** Line 413: remove “The” before “Figure 7”. Just use “Figure 7” for proper English

** Line 416: replace “Figure 8-10” by “Figures 8-10”

** Line 445: remove “The” at start of line.

** authors must address how they solved the substandard saplings problem. They covered the other two problems (off-season grafting and post harvesting storage)

Comments on the Quality of English Language

** minor English editing is required

Author Response

Reviewer 3 Comments and Suggestions

Comments and suggestions

** must reference figure numbers in text, e.g. add “Figure 1 shows rotten fruits” at end of line 100

Authors response: Thank you for the suggestion, we have decided to remove the figure as it is not significant as pointed by other peer reviewers also.

** Line 242: remove “contain” word

Authors response: We have removed “Contain” word in revised manuscript. (Now in line 245)

** Line 246: remove “The” before “Figure 2”. Just use “Figure 2” for proper English

Authors response: We have corrected “The Figure 2 “ to now “Figure 1” as figure 1 is discarded.

** Line 253: remove the word “Materials”. It is irrelevant

** Line 277: remove the word “Materials”. It is irrelevant

Authors response: The word “materials “ is removed now from line 253 and 277.( Revised manuscript line 256 and 277)

** Line 351: remove “The” before “Figure 5”. Just use “Figure 5” for proper English

** Line 362: remove “The” before “Figure 6”. Just use “Figure 6” for proper English

Authors response: The word “The” before the figures are corrected to Figure 5, Figure 6 etc. ( Line 320, 355 and 407)

** Line 395: remove word “below”. Not needed

Authors response:

** Line 413: remove “The” before “Figure 7”. Just use “Figure 7” for proper English

** Line 416: replace “Figure 8-10” by “Figures 8-10”

** Line 445: remove “The” at start of line.

Authors response: The word “The” before the figure is corrected. Figure 8-10 has been corrected to Figures 7-9 in the revised manuscript. (line 410). The table is replaced with Table (Now, Line 439)

** authors must address how they solved the substandard saplings problem. They covered the other two problems (off-season grafting and post harvesting storage)

Authors response: The authors would like to thank you for your valuable comments and suggestions, which have helped to improve the manuscript. The Proper selection of scion, rootstock, and environmental control in grafting results in a lower mortality rate and as well as have better quality. This is included in the text Line -369. We once again, Thank you for your valuable suggestions.

Round 2

Reviewer 2 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

The revision of the manuscript has been carried out successfully, the comments have been implemented and the reviewer's comments have been answered conclusively, so that I accept the manuscript in its current form for release.