Seed-Filling Characteristics of a Centralized Seed-Metering Device for Rapeseed Caused by Vibration
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
The scientific and practical level of the paper is quite high, corresponds to the level of the journal. The text is presented clearly and logically. The structure of the manuscript provides a fairly clear understanding of the technological process of feeding rapeseed seeds, taking into account the vibration effects that affect the performance of seed filling. The disadvantage of the described method for determining the vibration displacement of the seed is its time-consuming and some expensive equipment (for example, a high-speed camera), but the possibility of its practical implementation using existing techniques eliminates this disadvantage.
For a more complete demonstration of all the advantages of the experiment, it is desirable to supplement the Introduction section with information on the practical application of the results for sowing rapeseed seeds, as well as to justify future research at the end of the Discussion to increase reader interest.
I believe that the minor changes are needed (below):
- It is appropriate to add two sentences at the end of the abstract that answer the questions: "What do the results mean in practice? And what remains unresolved?"
- L24. If the feed angles are given with an accuracy of up to two decimal places, then the values of 56 and 59 degrees should be 56.00 and 59.00. What device did the respected authors use to measure angles with such accuracy?
- In the abstract, it is desirable to give one sentence for the results achieved corresponding to each of the goals (1), (2) and (3) of the study.
- It is desirable to include in the keywords the breed of the plant whose seeds were used for field tests.
- L39 "most of Sichuan is steep and mountainous" - specify the amount of slope.
- In the references it is desirable to specify the DOI (where applicable)
- With regard to the ethical aspects related to seeds, a separate section of the type usually indicates a Statement about the availability of data. For example, “[Latin seed name] seeds were used in this study. The seeds were collected in the following places of origin (coordinates) in the fall of 2019.”
Author Response
Dear Editor and Reviewers:
Thank you very much for your letter and for reviewers’ comments concerning our manuscript entitled “Seed filling characteristics of a centralized seed metering device for rapeseed caused by vibration” (ID: agriculture-1724639). These comments are valuable and helpful for revising and improving the paper, as well as the important guiding significance to our researches. We have studied all comments carefully and have made some corrections and looking forward having your approval. The main corrections in the paper and the responds to the reviewers’ comments are as following:
Responds to the reviewers’ comments:
Reviewer #1:
Comment #1: It is appropriate to add two sentences at the end of the abstract that answer the questions: "What do the results mean in practice? And what remains unresolved?"
Response: Thank for the reviewer’s comments. We have added two sentences at the end of the abstract that answer the questions: "What do the results mean in practice? And what remains unresolved?"
Comment #2: L24. If the feed angles are given with an accuracy of up to two decimal places, then the values of 56 and 59 degrees should be 56.00 and 59.00. What device did the respected authors use to measure angles with such accuracy?
Response: Thank for the reviewer’s comments. We have changed the values of 56 and 59 degrees to 56.00 and 59.00 according to the Reviewer’s comments. I used the software ImageJ to accurately measure the angle by drawing two straight lines and an intersection
Comment #3: In the abstract, it is desirable to give one sentence for the results achieved corresponding to each of the goals (1), (2) and (3) of the study.
Response: Thank for the reviewer’s comments. Because this paper has carried out three different experiments, the results of each experiment are introduced separately, which may be more acceptable to readers, and are introduced in chronological and logical order.
Comment #4: It is desirable to include in the keywords the breed of the plant whose seeds were used for field tests.
Response: Thank for the reviewer’s comments. Since the seeds only need to meet the size required by the experiment, the varieties used are directly distributed by the local Agricultural Bureau, which does not need special emphasis in the keywords.
Comment #5: L39 "most of Sichuan is steep and mountainous" - specify the amount of slope.
Response: Thank for the reviewer’s comments. We have specified the amount of slope according to the Reviewer’s comments and mark it in red.
Comment #6: In the references it is desirable to specify the DOI (where applicable)
Response: Thank for the reviewer’s comments. We have specified the DOI in the references according to the Reviewer’s comments and mark it in red.
Comment #7: With regard to the ethical aspects related to seeds, a separate section of the type usually indicates a Statement about the availability of data. For example, “[Latin seed name] seeds were used in this study. The seeds were collected in the following places of origin (coordinates) in the fall of 2019.”
Response: Thank for the reviewer’s comments. Since the seeds only need to meet the size of the experiment requirements, the seeds used in this experiment are distributed by the local Agricultural Bureau, so the location and time of seed production are not clear.
Special thanks to you for your good comments.
We tried our best to improve the manuscript and made some changes in the manuscript. These changes will not influence the content and framework of this paper. And here we did not list the changes but marked in red in the revised manuscript.
We appreciate for Editor and Reviewers’ warm work earnestly, and hope that the correction will meet the approval.
Once again, thank you very much for your comments and suggestions.
Sincerely yours
Dr. Xiaolong Lei
Author Response File: 
Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 2 Report
Dear Authors
In my opinion, it only requires editorial corrections.
Comments for author File: Comments.pdf
Author Response
Please see the attachment.
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
