Bacillus Strains with Catalase Enzyme Improve the Physiology and Growth of Rice (Oryza sativa L.)
, Thomas Hilger 3,*, Shumila Shahid 1, Zafar Iqbal 4 and Maqshoof Ahmad 1Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
Please see the attached review report.
Comments for author File: 
Comments.pdf
I have stated my concern about quality of English in the review report.
Author Response
Dear Editor
Stresses in MDPI
Subject: Submission of revised manuscript No. 2621670
Type of manuscript: Research article
Title: Bacillus strains with Catalase enzyme improve the physiology and growth of rice (Oryza sativa L.)
Dear Editor,
We are thankful to the editor and the reviewers for providing their valuable comments on our manuscript. We have thoroughly revised our manuscript and have tried our best to incorporate all the changes suggested by the reviewers. All suggestions have been addressed. Please see the red text in the revised manuscript. The authors’ responses to the reviewers’ comments are given below.
We would like to thank you in advance for the effort done to review the manuscript which was very helpful for us to improve its quality.
If necessary, we can agree on using the MDPI editing service and we will cover the costs. The invoice shall be directed to Dr. Thomas Hilger Universität Hohenheim (490e), 70593 Stuttgart, Germany.
The point by ppoint response to the reviewers is found in file response to the comments
Yours Sincerely,
Thomas Hilger
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 2 Report
This study assessed the catalase activity of four Bacillus strains and their potential for promoting rice seedling growth. These strains underwent characterization to measure their production of catalase, urease, siderophores, and exopolysaccharides in vitro. When applied together, these strains significantly increased catalase activity in rice seedlings' rhizosphere and improved growth parameters. These work suggest their potential as bioinoculants for enhancing rice growth, pending further natural environment experiments.
In this manuscript, the authors conducted on substances with the potential to enhance rice growth. The research illuminates how Bacillus strains promote the growth of rice seeds, highlighting their potential as biological agents in agriculture. These discoveries contribute to our comprehension of the role of biocontrol bacteria in plants.
Numerous questions emerge from this study, Are their documents on these four bacteria ad biocontrol for rice or other plants? Whether these bacteria can serve as growth enhancers and mitigate oxidative stress in mature plants?
The results section lacks explanations so that it is difficult to understand the logic of the experiment. The details are in the methods and materials section, but the reader will find it convenient to have an explanation in the results chapter of the experiments.
The listing of names is not coherent throughout the paper, the information must be arranged in a logical manner
Line 112 Change.. of bacterial/ Bacillus strains… (AN???)” move from methods section.
Line 115 - Please write what is AN31 and AN35
Line 127- "Plant” write which plant the paper on rice.
Figure 2: It is advisable to separate the graphs (soil and plant) so you can see if there are big differences between the groups and the letters above the bars.
Figure 3: Why Y axis is start -20?
line 152- To make it easier for the reader, please explain the inoculation step in the experiment in the results chapter (2.4).
Line 171 "bacterial population” It's not clear how it was measured. Please provide more details details. Is it all the microbiome in soil?
Figure 4: Change CFU to 106. clarify the X axis of 4b
In the methodology section, it is stated that a range of biochemical tests were conducted to assess bacterial activity in various growth media. How the authors know if these substances are also being secreted when the bacteria are inoculated into the actual rice-growing soil? Could the soil conditions potentially influence this interaction?
It's worth noting that while the researchers acknowledged on soil components, they didn't addressed how these components might impact microbial activity in the soil.
If the bacteria exhibit increased siderophore activity, could this potentially alter the iron levels in the soil?
The specific variety of rice utilized in the experiment was not clearly specified.
Line 251 “ Bacillus strains enhanced soil chemical and biological properties.” No evidence for chemical properties.
Author Response
Revisions please see the attachment
Response to the Reviewer's comments
Reviewer: 2
Comment: Numerous questions emerge from this study, Are their documents on these four bacteria ad biocontrol for rice or other plants? Whether these bacteria can serve as growth enhancers and mitigate oxidative stress in mature plants?
Response: We focused on the rice plant growth-promoting characteristics of these four strains. However, if rice plant faces water shortage or heat stress during their growth. It will produce reactive oxygen species therefore we studied antioxidant enzymes. We studied these strains on rice plants where they performed well, we can perform other experiments to check the efficiency of these strains with other crops
Comment: Line 112 Change.. of bacterial/ Bacillus strains… (AN???)” move from methods section.
Response: The changes have been incorporated as suggested by the reviewer.
Comment: Line 115 - Please write what are AN31 and AN35
Response: AN31 and AN35 are the Bacillus bacterial strains mentioned in the revised section.
Comment: Line 127- "Plant” write which plant the paper on rice.
Response: The addition of the word “plant” has been incorporated in the revised manuscript.
Comment: Figure 2: It is advisable to separate the graphs (soil and plant) so you can see if there are big differences between the groups and the letters above the bars.
Response: The graphs have been separated in the revised manuscript as suggested by the reviewer.
Comment: Figure 3: Why Y axis is start -20?
Response: The graph has been changed and started from zero in the revised manuscript.
Comment: line 152- To make it easier for the reader, please explain the inoculation step in the experiment in the results chapter (2.4).
Response: The suggested incorporations have been modified as suggested by the reviewer.
Comment: Line 171 "bacterial population” It's not clear how it was measured. Please provide more details details. Is it all the microbiome in soil?
Response: It is the bacterial population in terms of Cfu per gram soil. More detail has been added in the revised manuscript.
Comment: Figure 4: Change CFU to 106. clarify the X axis of 4b
Response: The suggested changes have been modified in Figure 4. The x axis of 4b represents bacterial population (CFU 106)
Comment: In the methodology section, it is stated that a range of biochemical tests were conducted to assess bacterial activity in various growth media. How the authors know if these substances are also being secreted when the bacteria are inoculated into the actual rice-growing soil? Could the soil conditions potentially influence this interaction?
Response: Rice plant faces water shortage or heat stress during their growth in soil condition. It will produce reactive oxygen species and also secrete these substances to protect from these conditions. The soil will ultimately be feasible under stressful conditions.
Comment: If the bacteria exhibit increased siderophore activity, could this potentially alter the iron levels in the soil?
Response: Due to increase of siderophore production ability by these catalase enzymes activity, the Fe efficiency will also potentially improve in the soil.
Comment: The specific variety of rice utilized in the experiment was not clearly specified.
Response: The variety of rice used in the experiment has been added in the revised manuscript.
Comment: Line 251 “Bacillus strains enhanced soil chemical and biological properties.” No evidence for chemical properties.
Response: The suggested changes have been modified in the revised manuscript.
Dr. Thomas Hilger
