Effect of Sodium Hydroxide Treatment on Chemical Composition and Feed Value of Common Reed (Phragmites australis) Straw
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
It has been shown before, as well as in this paper, that alkali treatment (NaOH) affects the structure and chemical composition of the straw cell walls. The authors have performed a comprehensive analysis of the reed straw (Table 1) but,unfortunately, the individual cell wall fractions are chemically only poorly defined. In such case,the found differences cannot be related to specific cell wall components. The fractions quoted in Table 1 have not been characterized sufficiently. For example, what is the NDF (neutral detergent fiber? or acid detergent fiber?). The same is valid for "crude ash" (CA) nd some others.
What means the sentence "...treatment of reed straw with treatment of NaOH decreased..." (lines 203 and 204 of the manuscript)?
A great number of parameters have been investigated. Due to rather complicated computational procedure (familiar only to a specialist, the tabulated values are difficult to verify. In case of Table 2, graphical presentation would be more instructive. Where possible, the values corresponding to 100% should be clearly stated.
In the Discussion part, please indicate the novelty of the results and and how they can be used in the practice.
Author Response
Response to the Reviewer 1
First of all, I would like to thank the Reviwer,
As mentioned by the reviwer 1, it would be more informative if cell wall contents had been given in terms cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin to see the effect of NaOH treatment on reed straw. But changes in NDF and ADF contents of reed straw clearly showed that the effect of NaOH treatment on reed straw. NDF and ADF contents of reed straw are taken into consideration when ruminant diets are prepared.
Table 1 was converted into Figure 1.
The novelty of these results was indicated in Discussion
Reviewer 2 Report
The present work was conducted to alkali treatment on chemical composition and feed value of reed straw. The technique of using alkali to improve straw or stalk feed value has been extensively studies decades ago, and it is well know that alkali treatment can improve straw feed value to some extend, and has been widely used in the past. So as a research paper right now the novelty of present work is pretty faint. In addition, the RFV was developed to evaluate the feed quality of alfalfa hay, and therefore may not be suitable to other feedstuff.
Author Response
First of all, I would like to thank the Reviwer,
Yes, as mentioned by the reviwer, the alkali treatment has been used to improve straw,it can be used to other feed sources and still in use in some parts of world even if it is difficult to apply the NaOH to straw.
RFV is developed for Alfalfa hay, RFV has been used for other forages in the literature. Therefore I have used the RFV for reed straw to see the possible effect of NaOH on the feed intake of reed straw.
Round 2
Reviewer 1 Report
As a matter of fact, there were not many changes done in the paper. The effect of NaOH on carbohydrate composition could give an information about how the individual polysaccharide fractions were influenced by NaOH. I do not insist on supplying these data to the present paper but future research should consider also these aspects.
Conversion of Table 2 to a graph is OK
In the Discussion, please discuss the methods that could be used for NOH removal from the treated forage.
Author Response
I do not know any methods how to remove the NaOH from treated forage.
Reviewer 2 Report
No further comments.
Author Response
The manuscript has been undergone extensive English revisions by the native English-speaking editor.
Author Response File: 
Author Response.pdf
