Use of Botanical Pesticides in Agriculture as an Alternative to Synthetic Pesticides

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

I think the manuscript needs a change in the title Usage of botanical pesticides….  It is not describing actual usage but indicating alternatives to the chemical pesticides currently in use.

In the abstract it states ‘challenging biodegradability’  but it was the persistence of spray deposits of many pesticides which enabled them to be effective.  The extent of persistence outside the treated area and impact on the environment resulted in banning use of DDT on crops and banning of other chlorinated hydrocarbon insecticides such as toxaphene. This followed Rachel Carson’s book – Silent Spring.

Highest human fatality rate risks in Africa – not sure that is strictly correct as many farmers in other parts of the world such as India suffered from illness and death, including suicides.

The authors state the review critically highlighted results obtained from several studies under different conditions (laboratory, greenhouse and field). For instance, Azadirachta indica with the trade names Ecozin, Azatrol EC, Agroneem, and TrilogyTM have been used to control pests under greenhouse and field.

 In reality, the tables merely refer to a large number of published scientific papers, but little mention is made with reference to the extent the biopesticide had been tested with field data or laboratory, etc or which were commercially available. 

The title might be better it is changed to A listing of botanical pesticides as alternatives to the current situation.

However, the paper should then rearrange the grouping to cover commercial products, botanicals effective in field trials and biopesticides which have shown promise in small-scale experiments, or at least indicate the stage of development in the tables. A problem with botanical pesticides is whether they are sufficiently active and will persist under field conditions   Note pyrethrins have been known over many centuries, but in the field sunlight severely limited the period of effectiveness, hence the development of pyrethroids.

Author Response

Please find attachment

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 2 Report

Comments to the Author

Authors done a great job to modify according to the reviewers suggestions and recommendation, however, yet there are some amendments required.

Major Points

1. Still this manuscript contains typo errors please take more effort on this.
2. The table 2 and line no 100-143 the extraction techniques not required in this review because the extraction techniques is not new in online present thousands of articles so please remove it. it's not required.
3. Line 152; You added Bioactive compounds from plant or botanical pesticide? please revise with bioactive compounds from plants or botanicals. the current form very hard to understand.

Author Response

Please find attachment

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 3 Report

Dear Authors I am fully satisfied of the replies you provided to my last review of your submitted paper. I read carefully the revised version of your mns and I consider it proper to publication BUT before I suggest to make some little modifications to a few incorrect  references in the text:

line 247 the correct reference is 168 (not 1168);

line 287 the correct reference is 189 (not 198);

line 376 the correct reference is 225 (not 224);

line 378 the correct reference is 226 (not 225).

Please look at the full references list in the file revised and attached below!

Comments for author File: Comments.pdf

Author Response

Please find attachment

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

This manuscript is a resubmission of an earlier submission. The following is a list of the peer review reports and author responses from that submission.

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

This is an interesting article, but in writing about a large number of plant extracts with a long list of references, the reader is still not sure whether your comments relate to laboratory trials, field trials or which are commercially available.  As pointed out, plant extracts are often easily degraded when applied on crops, eg pyrethrins, while other have a very complex molecule that is not easy to copy.  The title refers to application, but there is no detail on how their application on field crops is somewhat different to chemical pesticides, as it may not be absorbed or transported within sprayed plants and as mentioned above, spray deposits may have a very short life.

Reviewer 2 Report

​Reviewer

Comment to Author

The manuscript entitled “ Usage of botanical pesticides in agriculture and their application” by Patrick et al. In this present review is  botanical derived pesticides highlight the status, phytochemical compositions, modes of action, and challenges of botanical pesticides usage in sustainable agricultural production. In current days the insect pest and plant disease are a major challenge to agricultural production, because the insect pest and plant pathogens can damage the plant and pathogens can transmit different types of vector borne disease worldwide. Currently the insect pest and plant pathogen control program uses different types of chemical pesticides; these chemicals cause several side effects to non-target species, human health as well as the green ecosystem. The repeated usage of chemical pesticides finally gives plant pest got pesticide resistance ability. So the plant derived secondary metabolites or essential oil is the right choice for controlling the plant pathogens like insect pest and plant pathogens without harm to non-target species. After carefully reviewing this review article, I saw the merit in this review but this manuscript contains several typo errors and grammatical errors. I suggest major revision.​

Major points

1. The title is hard to understand. Please revise with clararity.
2. Line 35; please cite a few more recent references that will strengthen the statement.
3. Line 37; please cite a few more recent references that will strengthen the statement.
4. Line 99-142; the secondary metabolites extraction methods no need this information please remove it.
5. Line 143; Bioactive compounds of botanical pesticides is change into Bioactive compounds from  botanicals
6. Line 192; put dot
7. In the throughout the review the plant scientific names not in italic form so please the plant scientific name need to change in italic form for Eg; line 197-199; A. indica, C. cinerariaefolium, Datura metel, Mirabilis jalapa, Targete minuta, Hyptis suaveolens, L. camara, R. speciose, and A. sativum and Phaseolus vulgaris L.
8. Please take more concentration on plant scientific names; 201-209.
9. Line 447; typo errors At 6 g·L-
10. In this review the mode of action details totally missing, you have mentioned in the keyword part these important details are missing please add this information.
11. Most of the very old references have been cited so please replace them with recent citations.

Reviewer 3 Report

Dear Authors,

I read carefully your submitted article  titled "  Usage of botanical pesticides in agriculture and their application" that I consider it a quite interesting contribution to improve these knowledges in applied agriculural science. However, I suggest to follow my notes/ suggestions in the attached revised file of your paper, Agriculture -1652383, before to re-submit the mns.

To summarize:

Introduction , line 28 , line 45;

Status of Botanical pesticides: line 96 , note the important suggestion to add a brief paragraph recording the web sites  used to search and select the references, also the reasons to choice them; 

At line 104:  please add a new table ,in Chapter 2, enclosing the ratio costs-benefits to select a best extraction method;

Considering that the text  shows  many sentences and periods without proper dotting and conversional style, I suggest to provide an English review of the mns by a mother language  lecturer, before re-submitting. 

Sincerely 

Comments for author File: Comments.pdf