No Effect of Biostimulants on the Growth, Yield and Nutritional Value of Shallots Grown for Bunch Harvest

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Dear authors, 
the work is a good job, but I think you have to make the following changes:
INTRODUCTION -expand the description part of the two biostimulants used, specifying the categories, the uses and  the effects reported in the literature for both.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
- there is no real discussion, there is only a list of effects but the reason for this increase is never explained, e.g. are there specific molecules that can act on biometric characteristics? Was the weather different in the two years?
- the tables show only the results of the ANOVA, but nowhere is there any difference between the different treatments on the two separate cultivars. 
- the averages for each individual treatment and for each individual cultivar are not shown
- I would recommend adding graphs for the most important parameters, so as to make the effect of the treatment more visible
REFERENCES
Add references related to the quality of the fruit, ascorbic acid content and yield. There are many works in the literature that show a beneficial effect of different classes of biostimulant on different crops.

Author Response

Proszę zobaczyć aplikację

Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Reviewer 2 Report

Reviewed manuscript entitled “The effect of biostimulants on the growth, yield and nutritional value of shallots grown for bunch harvest” is an interesting, original research study and after revision may be published in the journal.

Following are the detailed suggestion for the Authors:

Reference 3 - please provide more recent data on FAOSTAT.

In Table 1, translate "Zasolenie".

At what depth the onions were planted. Whether the onions were planted by hand?

Characteristics of the varieties tested must be provided.

What is the number of microorganisms in the EM preparation?

The sentence "plants were watered according to need" should be specified.

Please provide the meteorological conditions during the field experiment (temperature, precipitation).

What type of sprayer was used?

What was the operating pressure in the sprayer?

How much working liquid per 1 ha was used?

What kind of nozzles were used?

Was the normal distribution of the data examined and what test was used?

The discussion should be corrected. It should be explained what components of biostimulants affect the growth, development and yield of plants as well as the chemical composition of crops . It should be refer to the composition of the tested preparations. Why such an effect was not observed in this study. It should be suggested what could have influenced the obtained results.

There is no information on proposed future studies at the end of the conclusions.

Author Response

Please see the attachment

Thank you for thorough perusal of our manuscript, and all valuable comments and suggestions. The Reviewer’s concerns have been addressed and the following changes have been made in the manuscript:

Reference 3 - please provide more recent data on FAOSTAT.

Changed as recommended.

In Table 1, translate "Zasolenie".

Changed as recommended.

At what depth the onions were planted. Whether the onions were planted by hand?

Supplemented as recommended.

Characteristics of the varieties tested must be provided.

Supplemented as recommended.

What is the number of microorganisms in the EM preparation?

The exact composition of this microbiological product is unknown as it is protected by copyright.

The sentence "plants were watered according to need" should be specified.

Changed as recommended.

Please provide the meteorological conditions during the field experiment (temperature, precipitation).

Supplemented as recommended.

What type of sprayer was used? What was the operating pressure in the sprayer? What kind of nozzles were used? How much working liquid per 1 ha was used?

The shallots plants were watered using a watering can. The preparations were applied twice during the growing season at a dose of 1 dm³ per m^-2.

Was the normal distribution of the data examined and what test was used?

Supplemented in the manuscript.

The discussion should be corrected. It should be explained what components of biostimulants affect the growth, development and yield of plants as well as the chemical composition of crops . It should be refer to the composition of the tested preparations. Why such an effect was not observed in this study. It should be suggested what could have influenced the obtained results.

Supplemented as recommended.

There is no information on proposed future studies at the end of the conclusions.

Supplemented in the manuscript.

 

Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Round 2

Reviewer 1 Report

I think the work has now improved a lot and is much clearer and more understandable. I would only recommend to use the same color in the bar charts for each parameter.

Author Response

Thank you for thorough perusal of our manuscript, and all valuable comments and suggestions. 

Reviewer 2 Report

The authors made a significant contribution to the revision of the manuscript. In my opinion, the manuscript is suitable for publication in Agronomy.

Author Response

Dziękujemy za wnikliwą lekturę naszego rękopisu oraz wszystkie cenne uwagi i sugestie.