Organic Carbon Content in Fractions of Soils Managed for Soil Fertility Improvement in Sub-Humid Agroecosystems of Kenya

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Dear Authors,

The work concerns an interesting topic related to the Organic carbon content in fractions of soils managed for soil 2 fertility improvement in sub-humid agroecosystems. The structure of the reviewed manuscript is correct. The chapters: Introduction, Materials and Methods, Results, and Discussion were properly presented. The conclusions were correctly formulated.

However, the manuscript needs several improvements:

Line 27. Delete “Maize residue was used as mulch. Soil “ You do not need to use it here

Line 39. Delete fractionation

Lines 42-45. combine both sentences. They are almost similar content.

Lines 45-46. need to rewrite clearly.

Lines 49-51. In Kenya, land dilapidation, low crop performance, extreme poverty among small-scale farmers, and climate inconsistency have exacerbated food insecurity [43].

 

Line 51. Delete “pitiable” and add improper land use practices

 

Lines 51-53. need to rewrite

Line 53. that can enhance

Line 56. İmprove

Lines 57-58. meaningless sentence??? need to be revised

Lines 58-60. this sentence is very inverted and incomprehensible

Line 62. what kind of application?

Line 63. Need to add the reference

Line 65. delete comma

Line 69. delete this

Lines 74-98. Used at least 15 same words in a single paragraph. It is hard to follow like this. You need to combine and reduce some sentences to solve this issue. And In this paragraph, I think many sentences in this paragraph should be added to the discussion section.

Line 77. Also, it has been…

Line 102. Delete “documented” and add “reported”

Line 114. The study carried out in Kangutu primary school

Lines 128-129. rewrite this

Line 136. Ha^-1

Line 137. What kind of nitrogen fertilizer was used?

Table 1. Indicate the abbreviations of the definitions you use in different applications. eg Conventional tillage=Ct

For the rest, I believe that the article has good scientific value, and I will reevaluate it after revision.

 

 

 

Comments for author File: Comments.pdf

Author Response

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Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 2 Report

This paper is overall good and comprehensive to investigate the effect of soil management on the organic carbon contents. Authors have set several scenarios through fertilizers, soil depth and physical fractions which mean authors have presented an interesting outcome. The results can provide references for improving soil fertility. However, after reading through this paper, I think authors can improve the paper in the following aspects.

Abstract: The results can be enhanced to provide some quantitative results, apart from the key trend/pattern.

Introduction: Authors in second paragraph go into the description of the agricultural management for food production enhancement. However, I think it is better to add some information to show the overall factors affecting the food production, such as climate change, drought, water requirement/drought, soil fertility. This can connect your paper to the international findings. I believe drought is also a key factor to affect the food production in Kenya. Please refer: Zhao, D., Eyre, J. X., Wilkus, E., de Voil, P., Broad, I., & Rodriguez, D. (2022). 3D characterization of crop water use and the rooting system in field agronomic research. Computers and Electronics in Agriculture, 202, 107409. Zhao, D., Li, N., Zare, E., Wang, J., & Triantafilis, J. (2020). Mapping cation exchange capacity using a quasi-3d joint inversion of EM38 and EM31 data. Soil and Tillage Research, 200, 104618.

Line 57, please add a comma after (SOC). Please double check throughout the paper to follow the journal requirement.

Line 74-111, it is better to follow the key research questions, rather than focusing more on the Kenya context. A  well-defined research gap can help improve the readability and impact of this paper.

Materials and methods: Line 114, authors are required to add the area of the farm.

Line 125-143, an image can be added to show the experimental setup.

Line 146, why six, please add some explanations.

Line 206, why ANOVA? Have you tested if the sample follows the normal distribution?

Results and discussion: Figure 1, what does the character mean, such as cb, cd?

Section 3.1, please expand the analysis to show the results in Figure 1, Figure 2, Figure 3….

Please separate results and discussion section to ensure the key issues have been analyzed in-depth.

 

 

Author Response

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Reviewer 3 Report

The manuscript is very well structured based on quite a number of elaborated experiments. Although the content of the manuscript is lacking a certain novelty, the experimental design, the results as well as the discussion have shed light upon the soil organic carbon content dynamic under different agricultural practices in central Kenya. I suggest the manuscript to be published after minor revision.

Comments:

General comments:

1.      Line 70-72: The author has stated that understanding SOC in different soil particle fractions are important, however, besides the differentiation in the results illustration part, the theoretical background, the discussion and the implication from the result of this statement is rarely seen throughout the manuscript. This might form an interesting perspective. 

2.      Please include the information of the pH of the baseline soil, and preferable detailed soil texture classification and cropping schemes during the experiment period, as these are also important parameters for understanding SOC dynamics. 

Minor comments:

1.      Line 78, 88, 101, 171, and not limited to 175:  citation format inconsistent.

2.      Line 83, extra “.”

3.      Line 146: six consecutive cropping seasons, how long is a cropping season? Specify the time when the experiment was established.

Author Response

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Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Round 2

Reviewer 1 Report

Dear authors,

Your article has come to a good state after the last corrections, but I recommend that you review and cite the articles of the MDPI journal below.

Ozlu, E.; Gozukara, G.; Acar, M.; Bilen, S.; Babur, E. Field-Scale Evaluation of the Soil Quality Index as Influenced by Dairy Manure and Inorganic Fertilizers. Sustainability 2022, 14, 7593. https://doi.org/10.3390/su14137593

Ozlu, E.; Arriaga, F.J.; Bilen, S.; Gozukara, G.; Babur, E. Carbon Footprint Management by Agricultural Practices. Biology 2022, 11, 1453. https://doi.org/10.3390/biology11101453

Author Response

Thank you for the positive feedback.

We have included the two suggested references as shown in the revised manuscript.

Reviewer 2 Report

authors have well addressed all my concerns.

Author Response

Thank you for the positive response.