Better Nitrogen Fertilizer Management Improved Mchare Banana Productivity and Profitability in Northern Highlands, Tanzania

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

First of all, I want to congratulate the authors for carrying out a work like this in difficult and underdeveloped areas agronomically. In addition, it enriches us when they show us subsistence agriculture in such detail. The introduction of the work has seemed very good to me and they have described in a few words the situation that exists in agriculture in those regions. The part of the material and methods has been described in a cumbersome way, but with the tables presented the approach is quite clarified. In the part of the design of the experiment there is a lack of precision, for example, in view of the study that is going to be carried out, not quantifying the levels of nitrogen in the soils, it conditions us very negatively the conclusions that we can obtain from it. The same occurs with phosphorus and potassium, especially considering that in the research design it is not a constant value and coincidentally the best results are obtained with the treatments whose phosphorus and potassium values ​​are the highest. I observe another lack of precision by not quantifying the moisture value of the manure, a very important value, as well as not presenting the chemical analysis of the manures used or the green bean manure. A very important aspect is the way to apply the fertilizer, especially if it is urea, I have not found any reference at work, but table S3 specifies how it was applied, I think it is such an important point that it should have been described in the text. It is not clear to me why the T4 treatment, which was the one with the highest nitrogen dose, has obtained a higher economic performance than T3, when we have increased the variable costs and production has not increased except for the Tengeru plot in the second year. In the discussion part, I believe that not many data from similar trials are provided with which to analyze the data obtained, some more work should be done to be able to obtain the results obtained. The conclusions are clear and it is observed that continuous fertilization and the combination of mineral fertilization with organic fertilization (T5) is the best way to increase yield and profitability. Finally, congratulate you for your effort, I can imagine the conditions in which you have developed it, and I believe that it is a work that can contribute to improving agricultural production systems in your area.

Author Response

Please see the attachment.

Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Reviewer 2 Report

Thanks to the authors for providing this study

This study provides practical information on: “Better nitrogen fertilizer management improved Mchare banana productivity and profitability in volcanic soils of the central northern highlands, Tanzania”. Good and useful study. However, please answer the following comments:

 

In Introduction:

·       Add to the introduction references related to the subject of this study, this means: the effect of adding both organic and mineral fertilizers on the productivity of bananas, either individually or in a mixed manner.

·       The aim of the study does not fully reflect the subject of the study. The objective of the study should be modified in accordance with the title of the study, which means referring to the study of the effect of organic-mineral fertilizers.

In Materials and Methods:

·       It is better to place the chemical analysis of the organic fertilizer in a separate table that shows all the elements, including the organic matter.

In Results:

·       Statistical analysis should be added to figures 2, 3 and 4 in the form of letters above the averages of the treatments in order to show the significant differences.

·       An explanation of the statistical analysis must also be written in the titles of these figures and at any significant level (p).

·       Add also the statistical analysis of Tables 2, 3and 4, as was done in Table 1.

In Discussion:

The discussion of the results lacks the citation of appropriate references.

 

Note: Separate Supplementary Materials into a separate file.

Minor editing of English language required

Author Response

Please see the attachment.

Author Response File: Author Response.docx