Effect of Fertilizer Application on Watermelon Growth, Structure of Dissolved Organic Matter and Microbial Functional Diversity in Organic Substrates
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
The title is not representative of the study.
The methodology of this study is not well represented.
Line 75: The origin of wood peat, perlite, and vermiculite are missing.
The reason for use of substrate is missing. Have you mixed it with soil?
The experiment for the interaction of the substrate with soil culture is missing which is important for the real application feasible for farmers.
Line 83: Once 3 days? not clear.
Why fertilizers were applied in variable form, the applied fertilizers treatments are not reflected in the title of the manuscript.
Line 92 and 93: How PK treatment was the same in NPK treatment as in previous sentences you are reported in 3 g P and 10 g K/plant.
The agronomic practices, growth stages, total time duration, etc. all kinds of practices are missing. Describe the experimental process in detail.
Reference for the digestion of plants is missing.
Line 106: At the laboratory, very poor sentence.
Line 115: correct citation
Line 118: "available phosphorus" why again full form with abbreviation?
abbreviate one time along with full form after that use only abbreviation.
Line 162: very poor sub-title 3.1 of results.
The writing of the manuscript is very poor.
I will suggest authors get help from professional English language editing and try to overcome writing gaps.
Author Response
To reviewer 1
1.The title is not representative of the study.
Response:
Thank you for your kind advice. We have modified the title of the study. The aim of this study was to elucidate the effect of fertilizer application on watermelon growth, DOM chemical characteristics, nutrient content and microbial functional diversity in organic soilless growing substrates. Besides, because soilless cultivation medium requires economic cost, the use of substrate should not be too much. Therefore, another purpose of our original experimental design was to explore the impact of water and fertilizer management on the growth of watermelon and further explore the reduction of substrate consumption through water and fertilizer management. However, different fertilization treatments had little effect on the growth of watermelon in my results, Therefore, this paper focuses on the discussion the interrelationships among them.
- The methodology of this study is not well represented.
Response:
Thanks for your kind advice. We have added some content in Materials and Methods.
- Line 75: The origin of wood peat, perlite, and vermiculite are missing.
Response:
Thanks for your kind advice. We have added relevant information.
4.The reason for use of substrate is missing. Have you mixed it with soil? The experiment for the interaction of the substrate with soil culture is missing which is important for the real application feasible for farmers.
Response:
Watermelon is one of the crops with the most serious soil borne diseases. It cannot be planted continuously after one crop. Therefore, we choose to adopt the mode of soilless cultivation to control the spread of pathogens. If it is mixed with soil, the significance of soilless cultivation will be lost. The cultivation medium used in this experiment is the product developed by our research group, and the auxiliary materials used are mainly agricultural wastes. This can not only realize the resource utilization of waste, but also improve the quality and economic benefits of crops.
5.Line 83: 2 h Once 3 days? not clear.
Response:
Thanks for your kind advice. We have added relevant information.
6. Why fertilizers were applied in variable form, the applied fertilizers treatments are not reflected in the title of the manuscript.
Response:
Thanks for your kind advice. We have modified the title of the study. The specific reasons are the same as Response 1.
7. Line 92 and 93: How PK treatment was the same in NPK treatment as in previous sentences you are reported in 3 g P and 10 g K/plant.
Response:
We appreciate the reviewer’s comments. We have rewritten the sentences in the revised paper. The original meaning is to apply fertilizer twice (15 d and 40 d）in the whole growth period, and the amount of fertilizer is equally divided into 2 parts in the same treatment. The difference between PK treatment and NPK treatment is the application amount of N fertilizer, and the application amount of PK is the same.
8.The agronomic practices, growth stages, total time duration, etc. all kinds of practices are missing. Describe the experimental process in detail.
Response:
we have added some content in Materials and Methods.
9. Reference for the digestion of plants is missing.
Response:
Thanks for your kind advice. We have modified relevant reference.
10. At the laboratory, very poor sentence.
Response:
Thanks for your kind advice. We have already revised the relevant sentences.
11. Line 115: correct citation.
Response:
Thanks for your kind advice. We have modified relevant reference.
12. Line 118: "available phosphorus" why again full form with abbreviation? abbreviate one time along with full form after that use only abbreviation.
Response:
Thanks for your kind advice. We have already corrected.
13. Line 162: very poor sub-title 3.1 of results.
Response:
Thanks for your kind advice. We have modified the sub-title.
14. The writing of the manuscript is very poor. I will suggest authors get help from professional English language editing and try to overcome writing gaps. The authors should carefully examined the grammar in this manuscript.
Response:
We would like to thank the reviewer very much for these detailed and valuable comments. We have found a professional English editing company to modify the manuscript.
Reviewer 2 Report
The interrelation among watermelon growth, quality, and the used organic additives, the DOM structure is the main topic of the manuscript, besides the conventional application of P and NPK fertilizers. Authors were using up-to-date methods to study the objectives of the study, such as the NIR spectroscopy. The article is well written and can be in high correlation with the interest of potential readers. The innovative aspect is to study not only the structure and relevance of DOM, but also the microbial diversity with BIOLOG Eco-plates and provide the Shannon diversity indexes and the data on functional diversity. Those results can provide new insight, even though the article is mainly based on the model experiment. Proper statistical analysis is helpful to understand changes, and correctly labeling is provided information about it on Figures and Tables. I can recommend the manuscript for publication in its present form.
Author Response
Thank you for your positive evaluation for the manuscript.
Reviewer 3 Report
This is an interesting paper about the relationship of the watermelon yield with the chemical structure of dissolved organic matter (DOM) in the organic substrates as well as the nutrient content and microbial functional diversity. In some detail, the total nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), and potassium (K) contents were determined in root, stem, leaf, and fruit of watermelon plants under different treatments. The organic carbon (OC), total nitrogen (TN), available phosphorus (AP), and available potassium (AK) were measured in substrate samples. Also, the fluorescence EEM contours of DOM from substrates samples were measured and the fourier transform infrared (FTIR)spectroscopy was used to identify the functional groups present in DOM.
The present work was organized logically, and the results obtained were reliable and persuasive. The manuscript shows interesting and novel results, and the objectives are very clear. I would therefore recommend accepting this manuscript.
Author Response
Thank you for your positive evaluation for the manuscript.
Round 2
Reviewer 1 Report
The manuscript can be accepted in the present form.
