Impact of Grazing Tibetan Pigs on Soil Quality

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

The manuscript agriculture-3308222, titled “Impact of Grazing Tibetan Pigs on Soil Properties, Heavy Metals, and Microbial Diversity”, addresses an important paper investigating the effects of Tibetan pig grazing on soil health, specifically focusing on changes in heavy metal concentrations and microbial diversity within the soil profile. However, in my opinion this paper must be revised in a major manner for reasons of forms and content.

Introduction

Could the authors clarify the choice of Tibetan pigs as the focus of this study? Are there specific physiological or environmental benefits to use Tibetan pigs for grazing compared to other livestock?

In the background discussion on soil health and heavy metals, could the authors provide a summary of past research findings specifically on the impact of livestock manure on heavy metals in soil?

Materials and Methods

Could the authors elaborate on the specific selection criteria for sample depths (0 cm, 10 cm, 20 cm) in their soil sampling? This might help clarify how these depths relate to pig manure's influence on the soil profile.

For the measurement of microbial diversity, did the authors use controls to differentiate the effects of Tibetan pig manure from potential variations in soil microbial communities due to environmental factors (e.g., temperature, humidity)?

Could the authors provide more detail on the methodology used for bioinformatics and data analysis, particularly regarding OTU clustering and classification at different taxonomic levels?

Results

The results show variations in soil heavy metal content across soil depths. Could the authors explain why certain heavy metals increased at greater depths, while others decreased, specifically for elements like Pb and Cd?

In their findings on microbial diversity, the authors note significant differences between natural soil and soil affected by grazing pigs. Could they include more specific details on the dominant microbial genera or phyla affected by grazing?

Discussion

In discussing the potential impacts of pig manure on soil pH, could the authors elaborate on how pH changes might affect microbial activity or heavy metal bioavailability?

The authors mention the reduction in both alpha and beta diversity of soil microbes due to grazing. Could they expand on the potential long-term ecological impacts of reduced microbial diversity in these grazing areas?

Given that some microbial genera associated with pathogens increased in the grazed soil, could the authors discuss possible measures to mitigate pathogen transfer or contamination in soils treated with pig manure?

Conclusion

Could the authors suggest practical guidelines or recommendations for managing Tibetan pig manure in grazing systems, particularly to reduce heavy metal buildup and balance soil microbial health?

 

Could the authors discuss any potential implications of their findings for broader environmental management practices, especially in high-altitude or sensitive ecosystems like Tibet?

Author Response

Dear Reviewer
We have put the answer to the question in the file, please check

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 2 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

This research examines the effects of "Grazing Tibetan Pigs on Soil Properties, Heavy Metals, and Microbial Diversity." The study is both noteworthy and valuable, providing new and thorough insights that highlight scientific innovation, making it relevant to a broad audience of researchers and readers. However, some areas require clarification before the manuscript is ready for publication.

1.      Check grammar and sentence construction thoroughly throughout the text.

2.      The author should revise the abstract, as it is currently too general. Please add specific quantitative data to enhance its clarity and impact.

3.      The author also modified keywords like Physical and chemical properties Abstract.

4.      Introduction: (a) How does the application of pig manure influence the distribution and stability of heavy metals like cadmium, lead, and zinc in soil, and what are the potential ecological risks associated with heavy metal accumulation in topsoil? (b) The author should clarify and strengthen the objective of the work and emphasize its significance.

5.      Figure 1 needs modification, as the author has not provided latitude and longitude coordinates on each side of the figure.

6.      “2.2. Soil physical and chemical properties content determination” add reference.

7.      2.3. Determination of Soil Heavy Metal Content needs a reference. The term “flame atomic absorption spectrometry” should be corrected to "Atomic Absorption Spectrometry (AAS)." Additionally, the author has not included details on instrumentation or Quality Control/Quality Assurance (QC/QA) procedures.

8.      What bioinformatics methods and software are used to filter, assemble, and classify sequencing data in microbial diversity studies, and how are OTUs identified and validated in this process? Also, NCBI accession no. is missing.

9.      Results and Discussion: (a) Numerical data is missing throughout this section. (b) Graphical representations need improvement. Additional references are required in the discussion, as well as a more coherent storyline. Overall, the Results and Discussion section requires significant modification.

1

Comments on the Quality of English Language

1.      Check grammar and sentence construction thoroughly throughout the text.

Author Response

Dear Reviewer
We have put the answer to the question in the file, please check

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 3 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

The peer-reviewed article is an original study devoted to the analysis of soil quality (physico-chemical parameters, heavy metal content, microbial diversity) for grazing Tibetan pigs. Maybe the title of the article should be changed to “Impact of Grazing Tibetan Pigs on Soil Quality”. You should also clearly write the purpose of the research, because it is not specified. In addition, you should fix:

1) Unacceptable citations – inconsistency of the content of the sentences of the information from the cited sources 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 11. The Introduction should be rewritten taking into account the remarks.

2) Incorrect expressions - "Therefore, in this study, we measured the physical and chemical properties, heavy metals, and bacterial communities of soils before and after raising Tibetan pigs." - Possible concentration of heavy metals? What indicators of bacterial communities were studied? In the soil before and after raising Tibetan pigs (perhaps their grazing)?

3) Specify how the samples were taken and how the average sample was obtained, indicating the relevant methods and references.

4) Indicate the references of methods of research of physical and chemical parameters of the soil.

5) Indicate the valences of heavy metals throughout the text of the article.

6) Fig. 3 – the units of measurement should be indicated and the values of national standards should be shown on the diagrams.

7) The Conclusion should be rewritten and made more precise. In particular, regarding the content of heavy metals. It is also inappropriate to write about the rational use of pig manure, because such results are not presented in the peer-reviewed article.

After making corrections, the article needs to be reviewed again.

Comments for author File: Comments.pdf

Author Response

Dear Reviewer
We have put the answer to the question in the file, please check

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Round 2

Reviewer 1 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

I am writing to follow up on my review of manuscript agriculture-3308222, entitled : Impact of Grazing Tibetan Pigs on Soil Properties, Heavy Metals, and Microbial Diversity. I'm pleased to inform you that the authors have addressed all my comments thoughtfully and respectfully.

Their revisions demonstrate a clear understanding of the points I raised, and the changes they have made significantly improve the quality of the manuscript. I believe the paper is now much stronger and ready for further consideration.

 

 

Author Response

Thanks for the reviewer's recommendation, it will be a very beautiful thing for me, and I sincerely wish you.

Reviewer 2 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

The authors have incorporated all comments raised by reviewer. This manuscript may be accepted for publication.

Comments on the Quality of English Language

The authors have incorporated all comments raised by reviewer. This manuscript may be accepted for publication.

Author Response

Thanks for the reviewer's recommendation, it will be a very beautiful thing for me, and I sincerely wish you.

Reviewer 3 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

The authors significantly revised the text of the article. However, a number of comments written in the text were not corrected (see article file). In particular, references to research methods were not added and incorrect sentences were left uncorrected

Comments for author File: Comments.pdf

Author Response

Thanks for the reviewer's suggestions, we will put the reply to the question in the file, please review and approve, sincerely wish you.

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf