The Effect of Different Stratification and Scarification Treatments on Breaking the Dormancy of Saskatoon Berry Seeds
, Lidia Sas-Paszt 1, Łukasz Seliga 2, Stanisław Pluta 2, Edyta Derkowska 1, Sławomir Głuszek 1, Beata Sumorok 1 and Walid F. A. Mosa 3
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
The text is useful for understanding the mechanism of seed dormancy in Saskatoon berry seeds. The results may help to breeding programmes and plant producers. There are a few main concern that I can suggest to you to improve the text. You may considerd if you like otherwise ıt is a good paper as present.
1-Date of seed extraction in the title does not match what you have done. It sounds like to extract seeds at different dates or time from the plant. However you stored seeds in the fruit or unstored so there is two distinct treatments. Then ıt can be pre and post low temperature storage extraction..... would be better term.
2-I wonder what is the seed moisture during storage in the fruit at -18 C. ? If the fruits are fell on the ground or left on the plant they observe a wet and cold period. Stratification can not be without wet spells in the nature so ıt would be nice what is the seed moisture around ? I do not think it goes very low since it is a fleshy fruit.
3-Is there a maturation differences among the seeds ? Pale red ones can be less mature or dark red ones are mature ....
4-Did you observe the fruit colours that you extracted the seeds from. In Figure one some fruits appear to be darker blue others are slightly pale?
5-Seeds are lkely to be hardseeded or not ? If seeds are hardly imbibe then sacarification helps. Otherwise embryonic dormancy may not overcome by damaging the seed coat. I think dormancy issue may be considered a bit more in discussion. You may consult Prof Carol Baskin's review in Seed Science and Technology in the last issue on physiological dormancy and ıts release.
6-Germination percentages in tables can be given as without decimal number say 47 % but not 47.57 %. In percentages decimal numbers are to much confusing.
7-Conclusion section is too long. You repeat the same result that already given in earlier sections. In this part of the text you should not give the numbers any more just say which treatment was the best and the worst and probably a few sentences about the future prospects.
I found the text useful and practicle.
Author Response
The authors would like to thank the Editor and the Reviewer for their precious time and valuable comments. We have carefully addressed all the comments. The corresponding changes and refinements made in the revised paper are summarized in our response below.
Below you can find the responses that we prepared for all comments of the reviewer who evaluated our manuscript.
RESPONSES TO REVIEWER 1 COMMENTS AND SUGGESTIONS
1-Date of seed extraction in the title does not match what you have done. It sounds like to extract seeds at different dates or time from the plant. However you stored seeds in the fruit or unstored so there is two distinct treatments. Then ıt can be pre and post low temperature storage extraction..... would be better term.
Response to the 1st comment and suggestion. The phrase “date of seeds extraction from fruits” in the title was removed.
2-I wonder what is the seed moisture during storage in the fruit at -18 C. ? If the fruits are fell on the ground or left on the plant they observe a wet and cold period. Stratification can not be without wet spells in the nature so ıt would be nice what is the seed moisture around ? I do not think it goes very low since it is a fleshy fruit.
Response to the 2nd comment and suggestion. The freshly harvested seeds were transferred in foil bags into the refrigerator at the temperature of - 18°C.
3-Is there a maturation differences among the seeds ? Pale red ones can be less mature or dark red ones are mature ....
Response to the 3rd comment and suggestion. The seeds harvested from immature berries were pale brown and those harvested from mature ones were dark brown. However, for the present study only matured seeds were collected.
4-Did you observe the fruit colours that you extracted the seeds from. In Figure one some fruits appear to be darker blue others are slightly pale?
Response to the 4th comment and suggestion. In figure 1 some fruits are slightly pale, but only fully ripe fruits, i.e. dark blue, were harvested.
5-Seeds are lkely to be hardseeded or not ? If seeds are hardly imbibe then sacarification helps. Otherwise embryonic dormancy may not overcome by damaging the seed coat. I think dormancy issue may be considered a bit more in discussion. You may consult Prof Carol Baskin's review in Seed Science and Technology in the last issue on physiological dormancy and ıts release.
Response to the 4th comment and suggestion. The obtained results indicated that Saskatoon berry seeds dormancy exhibits physiological dormancy (PD). We consulted this aspect citing prof Carol Baskin's review in Seed Science and Technology in the last issue on physiological dormancy and ıts release. Saskatoon berry seeds dormancy exhibits partial physical dormancy (PY), which may be partially associated with seed coat impermeability which was released by scarification with sandpaper or H2SO4 for 10 minutes. Physical dormancy could be associated with a greasy substance exuded from seeds during their imbibition. This sticky substance may partly contribute to limiting the access of oxygen and water to the seed embryo, as it forms a thick gelatinous barrier.
6-Germination percentages in tables can be given as without decimal number say 47 % but not 47.57 %. In percentages decimal numbers are to much confusing.
Response to the 6th comment and suggestion. According to the suggestion, all values of germination percentages in tables were corrected i.e., without decimal numbers. All values have been rounded. Additionally, all the values conserving germination parameters (T1, T75-T25, MGT) in table 2 were corrected in the same way. In the same way, the corresponding values in the manuscript were corrected.
7-Conclusion section is too long. You repeat the same result that already given in earlier sections. In this part of the text you should not give the numbers any more just say which treatment was the best and the worst and probably a few sentences about the future prospects.
Response to the 7th comment and suggestion. The conclusion section was shortened. The results from the conclusion were deleted and a few sentences about the future prospects were added.
Reviewer 2 Report
Dear author,
Thanks for good work and report. Comments and questions are mentioned in the attached file.
Regards
Comments for author File: 
Comments.pdf
Author Response
The authors would like to thank the Editor and the reviewer for their precious time and valuable comments. We have carefully addressed all the comments. The corresponding changes and refinements made in the revised paper are summarized in our response below.
Below you can find the responses that we prepared for all comments of the reviewer who evaluated our manuscript.
RESPONSES TO REVIEWER 2 COMMENTS AND SUGGESTIONS.
The effect of different stratification and scarification treatments on breaking dormancy of ....
Reply to the comment and suggestion: The tittle was corrected according to the reviewer suggestion.
20 Degree = warm?
Response to the comment and suggestion: Generally, in the procedure of breaking seed dormancy by warm-cool stratification (20/3°C) warm temperature is considered as room temperature. In the present study, 20°C was applied.
You did not mention how was storage condition and duration in methods of abstract?
Response to the comment and suggestion: The storage condition and its duration are already included in the abstract
Please mention which treatment was the best.
Response to the comment and suggestion: The best treatment was included in the paper.
… from fruits stored at -18°C …. Is this temperature suitable for seeds? Freezing temperature?
Response to the comment and suggestion: The freezing temperature was chosen to imitate natural conditions. Saskatoon berry is native to the Prairie Provinces of Canada and the northern plains in the United States of America. Very often their berries store at natural temperatures under zero.
In this stage, seeds with small roots, you subject seeds to different scarification treatments. So, probably seeds roots damaged to some extent.
Response to the comment and suggestion: In the case of Saskatoon berry all seeds were sown and after transferring them to 20°C they continued further growth.
H2SO4 at 95% concentration will damage all things and seeds very quickly. You must use maximum 20-30% H2SO4. The results on Figure 2 confirm this point as the lowest germination percent were obtained in H2SO4 treatment and also for longer duration. High H2SO4 concentration is not a suitable treatment for scarification.
Response to the comment and suggestion: In fact, the present study showed that H2SO4 in the concentration of 95% applied for longer than 10 minutes acts negatively on breaking seeds dormancy. The concentration (95%) of H2SO4 was applied on basis of the previous investigation of other scientists.
As a standard method for germination pf seeds you should use 4 replications not 3.
Response to the comment and suggestion: The experiments were repeated previously three times. The obtained results confirmed the previous findings.
It is well known that temperate small fruits needs stratification for breaking its dormancy.
Response to the comment and suggestion: It is common knowledge. However, in the present study, we wanted to improve well-known method of stratification by combining it with other compounds.
Why you choose -18?
Response to the comment and suggestion: The freezing temperature was chosen to imitate natural conditions. Saskatoon berry is native to the Prairie Provinces of Canada and the northern plains in the United States of America. Very often their berries store at natural temperatures under zero.
63% germination is not very low. Please delete very.
Response to the comment and suggestion: Thank you for the suggestion. The word “very” was deleted.
Add unit. Days?
Response to the comment and suggestion: Corrected
This result are predictable as -18 is not a suitable storage temperature. It was better to examine the effect of different storage temperatures like 0, -5, -10 and -18.
Response to the comment and suggestion: The aspect of seed storage (at 2-3°C) in fruit has already been applied in practice. The current research was aimed at imitating natural conditions during winter conditions in Prairie Provinces of Canada and the northern plains in the United States of America where Saskatoon berry is native and originated.
Just for storage at -18 degree and for 6 months is recommendable. Please mention it.
Response to the comment and suggestion: Corrected
Please delete results that you present before. Just mention practical application and introduce the best treatment or combination treatments.
Response to the comment and suggestion: Corrected. We mentioned practical applications and introduced the best treatments.
