Comparison of Agronomic Parameters and Nutritional Composition on Red and Green Amaranth Species Grown in Open Field Versus Greenhouse Environment
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
In this paper the authors study the problem of comparison of agronomic parameters and nutritional composition amaranth species grown in open field versus greenhouse environment. Amaranth species have recently gained popularity due to its adaptability to various climatic conditions and its cultivation in both open fields and hydroponics. This paper proposes a comparison growth parameters and nutritional composition of two consumed red (Amaranthus Cruentus L.) and green (Amaranthus Graecizans L.) amaranth species in South Africa, cultivated in open field versus greenhouse.
The topic is quite interesting, but I have comments. The introduction should place the proposed approach on the background of existing and known solution presented in literature. Also the importance of the research field should be stressed. What is the main question addressed by the research?
In the Discussion section, you need to focus on the results obtained. Because right now it looks like an Introduction section
In my opinion, in the article it is necessary to translate a graph or a comparative diagram of the results obtained. Then it will be clearer to readers which variant of growing culture is preferable.
The presented report is at a very high scientific level. I believe that the present study has a significant scientific and applied contribution, which is strongly emphasized in the basically reporting volume. A slight clarification can be made in the abstract part, where the quality of the research can be enhanced. In the conclusions, it is necessary to describe in which of the options for growing crops is more cost-effective? In the conclusions, it is necessary to provide specific results of calculations or analysis of tables. Then it will be clearer which option should be preferred.
Author Response
- Thank you very much for your question. We believe that sufficient information on the existing literature was provided on introduction given that only a handful studies on Amaranthus has been conducted in greenhouse cultivation. We also believe that this study will create awareness to fellow researchers, scientists and post-graduate students for future research in related studies which will ultimately increase the pool of scientific literature to be used as supporting or contradictory to findings. The main question of the research has been added as hypothesis in Line 110-112.
- Thank you for your question. Given that our study is but only an addition of the few done on Amaranthus cultivated in the greenhouse, our discussion is purely based on the available and relevant literature which supports and/or disagree with our findings. Due to lack of information, findings from studies conducted on other leafy vegetables were used.
- Comparative diagrams have been added as per your suggestion.
- Thank you very much for your question. Adding sentences on the abstract would mean that the abstract will be above and beyond the maximum word count (200) as provided in the authors guidelines. We welcome the suggestion of cost-effective in relation to growing Amaranthus species, which may likely form part of future studies as the current study only focused on the agronomical parameters and nutritional composition of the most consumed Amaranthus in South Africa. Summation of the results was included in the conclusion which will help in the preference of cropping system/option (*see Line 409-414). we hope you will find our response in your favour.
Reviewer 2 Report
Review on “Comparison of agronomic parameters and nutritional composition on red and green amaranth species grown in open field versus greenhouse environment”. Generally, I think that the topic of the paper is very interesting and brings new original data for its topic.
Statistics and experiment design sound good to me. The discussion is clear and the conclusion is well supported by the results. Noteworthy, the authors tried to provide interesting conclusions for human health and the nutritional value of amaranth from their results.
Specific comments:
Please check the Oxford comma throughout the whole manuscript.
Keywords: Please arrange the keywords in alphabetical order.
Introduction:
Please create a last paragraph to the Introduction that contains the clear hypothesis and goals of the study.
Materials and Methods:
Please use sub-sections in the Materials and Methods section. e.g. 2.1. Study sites, 2.2. Treatments etc.
Line 118: There is no end to the bracket. The plastic pots (18 cm diameter, 14.5 cm height, and 18 cm width were used in growing the seeds.
Line 152: The term true leaves does not sound scientific to me. Can you use another word for it?
Line 162-163: Which leaves were used for the relative chlorophyll content measurement? How many plants were used for this parameter? How many repetitions were taken? Please add the company and place of origin of the SPAD-502 relative chlorophyll meter.
Results:
Table 1, Table 2: The unit of the chlorophyll content is SPAD-unit or SPAD-index. The authors used SPAD-502 relative chlorophyll meter to determine the chlorophyll content so they measured the RELATIVE chlorophyll content. Please correct it.
Please indicate the number of repetitions in each table.
Author Response
1. Oxford commas checked on the entire document and incorporated/added where required.
2. Keywords rearranged in alphabetical order as suggested.
3. The goal (herein referred as aim) of the study is outlined on Line 107-109. The hypothesis is added on Line 110-112.
4. Sections numbered on materials and methods as per your suggestion.
5. End bracket added on Line 118.
6. The term true leaves on 152 replaced with green-emerged leaves.
7. number of plants, repetitions, company and place of origin of SPAD502 chlorophyl meter added (*see Line 162-164).
8. Relative chlorophyl content added on table 1 and 2, also the number of replications are added on table 1 and 2 as per your suggestion.
