Halophyte Common Ice Plants: A Future Solution to Arable Land Salinization

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

The manuscript is very interesting and concerns an important problem related to growing plants on saline terrains. The authors adopted the purpose of the work: document the possibility of adopting an ice plant from wildlife to cultivation, describing ecology and morphology, the environment and agronomic requirements, physiology.
However, the authors did not avoid minor mistakes, that should be corrected before accepting the MS:

- In the introduction of the MS and other sections, there is no information about the possibility of using the analyzed plant in sustainable agriculture.

- Despite extensive information on the morphology and physiology of the plant, in the manuscript there is lack of information concerning practical recommendations for field cultivation (perhaps it would be worth trying to interpret the results of vase experiments in order to make suggestions for agronomic conditions for field cultivation of this plant). The suggestion of conducting further research does not answer on the research problem posed by the authors in the aim of the work.

- Other comments relate to adapting the manuscript to editing requirements (Latin names should be written in italics, font size and type - lines 47-67.).

- Punctuation errors (no spaces, periods, decimal separators e.g. lines: 32, 70, 134, 143 ...). Please check the entire manuscript.

- There are no explanations for the abbreviations CAM, ROS, PGPR.

- Please rebuild the sentence (lines 165-167) because it is incomprehensible in its current form.

Author Response

-In the introduction of the MS and other sections, there is no information about the possibility of using the analyzed plant in sustainable agriculture.

Information added as requested

-Despite extensive information on the morphology and physiology of the plant, in the manuscript, there is lack of information concerning practical recommendations for field cultivation (perhaps it would be worth trying to interpret the results of vase experiments in order to make suggestions for agronomic conditions for field cultivation of this plant). The suggestion of conducting further research does not answer the research problem posed by the authors in the aim of the work.

Information reported in Chapter 4

-Other comments relate to adapting the manuscript to editing requirements (Latin names should be written in italics, font size, and type - lines 47-67.).

-Punctuation errors (no spaces, periods, decimal separators e.g. lines: 32, 70, 134, 143 ...). Please check the entire manuscript.

-There are no explanations for the abbreviations CAM, ROS, PGPR.

-Please rebuild the sentence (lines 165-167) because it is incomprehensible in its current form.

Manuscript revised for Latin names, grammatical errors, abbreviation and wrong sentences

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 2 Report

The paper is focused on selected plant as a future perspective against salinization of arable land. The global problem of quality water requires the search for new crops to provide sufficient crops for the nutrition of the population. The authors of the article focused on the description of selected crop in terms of ecology, morphology and physiology. The environmental and agronomic requirements from nursery to harvest are difficult for these crops and crop adaptation is limited. The cycle focuses on germination, juvenile phase, adult phase, flowering and seed development.

Strengths side:

The article is interesting and brings new information and worldwide necessary information.

Weaknesses:

The article is interesting and brings new information, which I propose to extend from further studies with a more precise definition of crop utilization. The authors cite the same idea in many cases from several authors. I propose to add a map of the area of ​​interest. I propose to add a more detailed description of the entry conditions, soil, weather conditions, etc.

Author Response

The article is interesting and brings new information, which I propose to extend from further studies with a more precise definition of crop utilization. The authors cite the same idea in many cases from several authors. I propose to add a map of the area of ​​interest. I propose to add a more detailed description of the entry conditions, soil, weather conditions, etc. 

Added information about growing condition, soil, irrigation, humidity, temperature photoperiod, etc. (Chapter 4)

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Round 2

Reviewer 2 Report

The authors have added the required documents and therefore I state that the article may be published in the present version.