Connection between Circadian Rhythm and Rumen Digestibility of Concentrate and Roughage in Sheep

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Dear Editor and Authors,

I have reviewed the manuscript entitled " Connection between Circadian Rhythm and Rumen Digestibility of Concentrate and Roughage in Sheep" (agriculture-2096861). The subject of the study falls within the scope of the journal. An adequate amount of information has been provided in the introduction, and the researchers have clearly outlined their objectives. There is a clear description of the authors' materials and the methods they employed in their study.  There is sufficient information presented in the results and discussion sections. There are, however, a few points that need to be improved.

Major comments:

The “Conclusion” section contains some expressions that should have appeared in the “Results” section. I am confident that the authors will write a more captivating Conclusion that highlights the significance of the work.

L89: Similar to Table 1, it would be better if the columns in Table 2 were arranged according to the text. "Leymus chinensis" should be italicized in the Table 2 column. In addition, footnotes should be provided below the table explaining the abbreviations.

L193: The items in Table 6 should be listed in the same order as in Table 2. Please use "Corn stalk" instead of "Corn straw" and italicize "Leymus chinensis". Further, footnotes should be provided below the table explaining the abbreviations.

L213, L218: The items in Table 7 and Table 8 should be listed in the same order as in Table 1 and 2, repectively. Please use "Corn stalk" instead of "Corn straw" and italicize "Leymus chinensis". Further, footnotes should be provided below the table explaining the abbreviations.

L225, L236: Keeping the title of Figure 1 and Figure 2 the same, the figures should be swapped.

L226-227: It is recommended that the explanation of Figure 1 be rearranged according to L78-82. The abbreviations should also be explained.

L236: The NDF and N(12 h) on Figure 2 overlapped. This must be rectified. In addition, the abbreviations should be explained. The same explanations that should be given to "oil meals" and "grain feed" should also be given to "crop straw" and "forage."

L263-265: References should be provided.

L337-339: References should be provided.

L346-348: References should be provided.

L371-372: Several references should be provided.

 

Minor comments:

L9: Please, indicate which authors contributed equally to this work.

L17: Please give a space between " 0.39" and "kg and chech the font.

L29: Please sort the keywords alphabetically

L83: Footnotes should be provided below the table explaining the abbreviations.

L83, 89: It is recommended that the titles of Tables 1 and 2 be changed and standardized.

L86-88: This sentence should also include the “peanut vine” listed in Table 2.

L106: "Leymus chinensis" should be italicized in the Table 3 column and footnotes. Besides, footnotes should be provided below the table explaining the abbreviations. Where appropriate, footnote numbers should also be indicated in Table 3.

L101-103: In order to clarify this sentence, the second part should be rewritten to state that it is given in equal amounts of concentrate and roughage.

L106: Please use “composition” instead of “Composition”.

L175: The "*" sign should be removed from the footnotes or used within the table instead.

L177: Please use “P<0.05” instead of “p<0.05”.

L186: To make Table 5 more understandable, the items should be listed in the same order as in Table 1.

L186: Please use “Wheat” instead of “wheat” (Table 5). Further, footnotes should be provided below the table explaining the abbreviations.

L191: Please use “corn silage” instead of “silage”.

L208: Please use “corn stalk” instead of “corn”.

L209: Please use “corn silage” instead of “silage of corn”.

L223: Please use “12-h” instead of “12-hour”.

L237: Please use “%, dry matter basis” intstead of “%, dry matter”.

L243: Please remove “of ruminants” due to the fact that only ruminants possess a rumen.

L247, 257, 296, 299, 309, 319, 326, 344, 352, 368: Please give a space between “activity and [17]”, “microorganisms and [21]”, “nutrients and [25]”, “starch and[26]”, “ nutrients and [27,28]”, “dormant and [29]”, “ by and Diao”, “animals and [5]”, “Shaani et al. and [1]”, “night and [22]”.

L291-292: Please use “The CP digestibility of oil meals was cotton meal > soybean meal> sunflower meal > rapeseed meal > flax meal.”.

L301:  Please use “The” intstead of “the”.

L302-303: “and that of roughage grass and crop straw showed a correlation with harvesting season and nutrient structure.” should be removed as the harvest season was not considered in this study.

L311: Please use “8” instead of “eight”.

L317: Please use “is” instead of “are”.

L318: Please use “intensity of body consumption” instead of “e body consumption intensity”.

L333: Please use “basal” instead of “basic”.

L334: Please use “oil meals” instead of “meal concentrate”.

L377: Please use “24 h” instead of “24 hours”.

L371-379 should be given in a single paragraph.

L382-382: Should be removed.

 

Comments for author File: Comments.docx

Author Response

Manuscript ID: agriculture-2096861

Title: “Connection between Circadian Rhythm and Rumen Digestibility of Concentrate and Roughage in Sheep”.

 

 

Response to Reviewer Comments

Dear Editor: 

Great thanks to you and the reviewers providing us nice comments as well as revision suggestions.

We would like to express our appreciation to Reviewer for carefully reviewing our article and providing useful comments and suggestions.

We have made revisions to the revised manuscript in response to the comments and

recommendations received. We have copied each reviewer's comment below and followed up with a comprehensive answer Additionally, we have used red colour in the revised portions of the manuscript by using “Track Changes” function.

 

Hopefully the revised version could be acceptable, and if there are any improper revision, please don’t hesitate to inform us.

 

Great thanks again,

 

Qiyu Diao

Email： diaoqiyu@caas.cn

 

Key Laboratory of Feed Biotechnology of Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Feed Research In-stitute of Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing, China

 

 

Response to Reviewer 1 Comments

 

Point 1: L89: Similar to Table 1, it would be better if the columns in Table 2 were arranged according to the text. "Leymus chinensis" should be italicized in the Table 2 column. In addition, footnotes should be provided below the table explaining the abbreviations.

Response 1: Yes, accepted and revised. This part has been added. Thanks!

 

Point 2: L193: The items in Table 6 should be listed in the same order as in Table 2. Please use "Corn stalk" instead of "Corn straw" and italicize "Leymus chinensis". Further, footnotes should be provided below the table explaining the abbreviations.

Response 2: Yes, accepted and revised. In Table 6, the rumen degradation rate of DM in feed samples was ranked from high to low. For convenience, the feed sequence in Table 2 was corresponding to Table 6. Thanks!

 

Point 3: L213, L218: The items in Table 7 and Table 8 should be listed in the same order as in Table 1 and 2, repectively. Please use "Corn stalk" instead of "Corn straw" and italicize "Leymus chinensis". Further, footnotes should be provided below the table explaining the abbreviations.

Response 3: Yes, accepted and revised. This part has been added, thanks.

 

Point 4: L225, L236: Keeping the title of Figure 1 and Figure 2 the same, the figures should be swapped.

Response 4: Yes, accepted and revised. This part modified, thanks.

 

Point 5: L226-227: It is recommended that the explanation of Figure 1 be rearranged according to L78-82. The abbreviations should also be explained.

Response 5: Yes, accepted and revised. This part modified, thanks.

 

Point 6: L236: The NDF and N(12 h) on Figure 2 overlapped. This must be rectified. In addition, the abbreviations should be explained. The same explanations that should be given to "oil meals" and "grain feed" should also be given to "crop straw" and "forage."

Response 6: Yes, accepted and revised. This part modified, thanks.

 

Point 7: L263-265: References should be provided.

Response 7: Yes, accepted and revised. Reference have been one added, thanks.

 

Point 8: L337-339: References should be provided.

Response 8: Yes, accepted and revised. Reference have been one added, thanks.

 

Point 9: L346-348: References should be provided.

Response 9: Yes, accepted and revised. A reference has been added, thanks.

 

Point 10: L371-372: Several references should be provided.

Response 10: Yes, accepted and revised. Reference have been one added, thanks.

 

Point 11: L9: Please, indicate which authors contributed equally to this work.

Response 11: Yes, The manuscript is indicated at the end, thank you.

 

Point 12: L17: Please give a space between " 0.39" and "kg and check the font.

Response 12: Yes, accepted and checked. This part modified, thanks.

 

Point 13: L29: Please sort the keywords alphabetically

Response 13: Yes, accepted and revised. This part modified, thanks.

 

Point 14: L83: Footnotes should be provided below the table explaining the abbreviations.

Response 14: Yes, accepted and revised. This part has been added, thanks.

 

Point 15: L83, 89: It is recommended that the titles of Tables 1 and 2 be changed and standardized.

Response 15: Yes, accepted and revised. This part modified, thanks.

 

Point 16: L86-88: This sentence should also include the “peanut vine” listed in Table 2.

Response 16: Yes, accepted and revised. This part has been added, thanks.

 

Point 17: L106: "Leymus chinensis" should be italicized in the Table 3 column and footnotes. Besides, footnotes should be provided below the table explaining the abbreviations. Where appropriate, footnote numbers should also be indicated in Table 3.

Response 17: Yes, accepted and revised. This part has been added, thanks.

 

Point 18: L101-103: In order to clarify this sentence, the second part should be rewritten to state that it is given in equal amounts of concentrate and roughage.

Response 18: Yes, accepted and revised. This part has been added, thanks.

 

Point 19: L106: Please use “composition” instead of “Composition”.

Response 19: Yes, accepted and revised. This part modified.

 

Point 20: L175: The "*" sign should be removed from the footnotes or used within the table instead.

Response 20: Yes, It has been deleted. Thanks.

Point 21: L177: Please use “P<0.05” instead of “p<0.05”.

Response 21: Yes, accepted and revised. This part modified.

 

Point 22: L186: To make Table 5 more understandable, the items should be listed in the same order as in Table 1.

Response 22: Yes, accepted and revised. The steps in Table 5 are listed in order of DM degradation rate from high to low. For clarity, Table 1 is listed in the same order as Table 5.

 

Point 23: L186: Please use “Wheat” instead of “wheat” (Table 5). Further, footnotes should be provided below the table explaining the abbreviations.

Response 23: Yes, accepted and revised. This part modified.

 

Point 24: L191: Please use “corn silage” instead of “silage”.

Response 24: Yes, accepted and revised. This part modified.

 

Point 25: L208: Please use “corn stalk” instead of “corn”.

Response 25: Yes, accepted and revised. This part modified.

 

Point 26: L209: Please use “corn silage” instead of “silage of corn”.

Response 26: Yes, accepted and revised. This part modified.

 

Point 27: L223: Please use “12-h” instead of “12-hour”.

Response 27: Yes, accepted and revised. This part modified.

 

Point 28: L237: Please use “%, dry matter basis” intstead of “%, dry matter”.

Response 28: Yes, accepted and revised. This part modified.

 

Point 29: L243: Please remove “of ruminants” due to the fact that only ruminants possess a rumen.

Response 29: Yes, It has been deleted. Thanks.

 

Point 30: L247, 257, 296, 299, 309, 319, 326, 344, 352, 368: Please give a space between “activity and [17]”, “microorganisms and [21]”, “nutrients and [25]”, “starch and[26]”, “ nutrients and [27,28]”, “dormant and [29]”, “ by and Diao”, “animals and [5]”, “Shaani et al. and [1]”, “night and [22]”.

L291-292: Please use “The CP digestibility of oil meals was cotton meal > soybean meal> sunflower meal > rapeseed meal > flax meal.”.

Response 30: Yes, accepted and revised. This part modified.

 

Point 31: L301:  Please use “The” intstead of “the”.

Response 31: Yes, accepted and revised. This part modified.

 

Point 32: L302-303: “and that of roughage grass and crop straw showed a correlation with harvesting season and nutrient structure.” should be removed as the harvest season was not considered in this study.

Response 32: Yes, It has been deleted. Thanks.

 

Point 33: L311: Please use “8” instead of “eight”.

Response 33: Yes, accepted and revised. This part modified.

 

Point 34: L317: Please use “is” instead of “are”.

Response 34: Yes, accepted and revised. This part modified.

 

Point 35: L318: Please use “intensity of body consumption” instead of “e body consumption intensity”.

Response 35: Yes, accepted and revised. This part modified.

 

Point 36: L333: Please use “basal” instead of “basic”.

Response 36: Yes, accepted and revised. This part modified.

 

Point 37: L334: Please use “oil meals” instead of “meal concentrate”.

Response 37: Yes, accepted and revised. This part modified.

 

Point 38: L377: Please use “24 h” instead of “24 hours”.

Response 38: Yes, accepted and revised. This part modified.

 

Point 39: L371-379 should be given in a single paragraph.

Response 39: Yes, accepted and revised. This part modified.

 

Point 40: L382-382: Should be removed.

Response 40: Yes, It has been deleted. Thanks.

Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Reviewer 2 Report

Major corrections are required for the publication of this manuscript entitled “Connection between Circadian Rhythm and Rumen Digestibility of Concentrate and Roughage in Sheep”. This study is interesting.

1.     Please include some recent information in introduction. Add some information about the enzymes and how they affected the digestibility in ruminants.

2.     Please improve the quality of figures. It should be coloured and include the error bars on the basis of standard error/standard deviation values.

3.     Same references are repeated many times in whole manuscript. Please discuss the findings of your study with recent information with recent references in discussion section.

4.     There are no standard error/standard deviation values in tables. Please include in all tables.

 

Author Response

Manuscript ID: agriculture-2096861

Title: “Connection between Circadian Rhythm and Rumen Digestibility of Concentrate and Roughage in Sheep”.

 

 

Response to Reviewer Comments

Dear Editor: 

Great thanks to you and the reviewers providing us nice comments as well as revision suggestions.

We would like to express our appreciation to Reviewer for carefully reviewing our article and providing useful comments and suggestions.

We have made revisions to the revised manuscript in response to the comments and

recommendations received. We have copied each reviewer's comment below and followed up with a comprehensive answer Additionally, we have used red colour in the revised portions of the manuscript by using “Track Changes” function.

 

Hopefully the revised version could be acceptable, and if there are any improper revision, please don’t hesitate to inform us.

 

Great thanks again,

 

Qiyu Diao

 

Key Laboratory of Feed Biotechnology of Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Feed Research In-stitute of Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing, China

 

 

Response to Reviewer 2 Comments

 

Point 1: Please include some recent information in introduction. Add some information about the enzymes and how they affected the digestibility in ruminants.

Point 1: Please include some recent information in introduction. Add some information about the enzymes and how they affected the digestibility in ruminants.

Response 1:  Yes, accepted and revised .This part modified, thanks.

 

Point 2:  Please improve the quality of figures. It should be coloured and include the error bars on the basis of standard error/standard deviation values.

Response 2: Yes, thank you for your advice. This part modified, thanks.

 

 

Point 3:  Same references are repeated many times in whole manuscript. Please discuss the findings of your study with recent information with recent references in discussion section.

Response 3: Yes, thank you for your advice. As there are few studies on the relationship between Hu sheep breeding and circadian rhythm at present, there are not many literatures for reference, so minor modifications have been made.

 

Point 4: There are no standard error/standard deviation values in tables. Please include in all tables.

Response 4: Yes, accepted and revised .it has been added, thanks.

Author Response File: Author Response.docx