Effects of Granule Size Ranges on Dazomet Degradation and Its Persistence with Different Environmental Factors

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

In the paper the effect of the size of Dazomet granule on their persistence under various temperature, pH, at different levels of dosage, were measured under in vitro conditions. Although in general the study is interesting and useful for eviting phytotoxicity of the fumigant or its insufficiency it needs some improvement for making it easier to understand, and to improve its scientific value. 

A research hypothesis is missing. The effect of all selected parameters (dosage, pH, temperature) on Dazomet persistence was studied separately. It would be interesting to rank the importance of the studied parameters on the DZ persistence to draw more general conclusions.

Abstract

MITC abbreviation is used without earlier explanation what it stands for, please explain the abbreviation before its first use.

Change, please the first sentence of the abstract or of the introduction because they are both exactly the same.

Introduction

The first sentence is repeated from the abstract

Line 70: change please,  “has not been investigate” into: “has not been investigated”

Material and methods

Generally the methodology is described in a way that is difficult to understand how the whole experiment was done and in how many replicates. Perhaps a graphical presentation of the whole experiment would help to understand it.

Line 84-87: could you please rephrase this long sentence or cut into two shorter ones because it is difficult to understand how many treatments and in what way have been prepared. What was the reason for SD preparation?

Line 88-90: Explain, please what was the purpose of adding acetonitrile and sodium chloride to the vials

Line 94: Was the experiment prepared in three replicates or were they only measured three times?

Eq 1 and 2: how did you obtain “k” value? Is it constant? So how the half-life value is calculated?

There is missing a section describing statistics used for elaboration of the results

Results and discussion

Results are presented in a repetitive way, the same tables and figures. As I mentioned before something linking presented results and giving way to more general discussion and conclusions would be appreciated.

Fig 2 Was it really necessary to do five different graphs? Wouldn’t the difference of half-life values of DZ granule size range as a function of temperature be more clearly seen and comparable when presented in one figure?

Line 253-254 Table S4 does not confirm the statement.

Author Response

Please see the attachment.

Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Reviewer 2 Report

Review of the manuscript "Effects of Granule Size Ranges on Dazomet Degradation and Its Persistence at Different Environment Factors"

The work is interesting, the research hypothesis and the assumptions of laboratory experiments are interesting. However, a few fixes are recommended:

1. There is too little description of why Dazomet was chosen for research, it is not a commonly used substance, which is also evidenced by the selection of literature and the date of their publication.
2. The purpose of the research is too general, the sentences in lines 71-73 should be reformulated and more detailed.
3. The authors should explain on what basis they selected the doses of DZ for the study.
4. The text should be supplemented with a brief reference to the statistical methods.
5. Please avoid abbreviations at the first mention in the text, e.g. give the full word for the abbreviation d (line 88), MITC (line 121), explain r2 (table 1).
6.  Figures 1 and 3 should be described in more detail and it should be stated that the statistical differences expressed in letters refer to .....
7. Conclusions should include a specific statement based on the results obtained, which may be a real and useful conclusion for practice (i.e. what size of granules and what parameters limit environmental degradation during the use of DZ).
8. Do farmers have a real influence on the choice of granule size in a commercial product? Are DZ fungicides available in different pellet sizes?

Author Response

Please see the attachment.

Author Response File: Author Response.docx