Herbaceous Peony Polyphenols Extend the Vase Life of Cut Flowers

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Undoubtedly, the authors have done a great contribution to research of Herbaceous peony polyphenols which extend the vase life of cut flowers. Remarks:

Point 2.1. Why didn't you use several concentrations of polyphenol solutions?

Point 2.2. Please provide a reference to the extraction technique.

Points 2.4. and 2.5. should be combined.

Point 2.5. Check and correct “Thereafter, CAT, POD, SOD content were evaluated…”. Use “was” after uncountable nouns.

Point 2.6. Check and correct a spelling mistake “The stem-ends were cut and immersed in 0.5% sodium hypochlorite solution for 2 minites…”

Points 2.7. How much polyphenols were added to PDA and what was the final concentration in the medium?

Chapter 4. Change “These trends remained consistent with the results of previous experiments [37-39]” into “These trends are consistent with the results of previous experiments [37-39]”

Please put the Latin name Boronia heterophylla in italics.

Chapter 5. I recommend you to add to the text of the conclusion prospects for application of your method and indicate the direction of further research.

Author Response

Dear reviewer,

Thank you for your guidance and affirmation of my research. My answer to your question is as follows:

Point 2.1. In the pre-test, we found that the minimum inhibitory concentration of herbaceous peony polyphenols to E. coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and other common bacteria was 8% , in order to find out whether 8% herbaceous peony polyphenols has a general inhibitory effect on the bacteria produced during vase life, we chose only one kind of concentration of bacteria in this study.

Point 2.2, Point 2.4, Point 2.5, Point 2.6. I added the reference to the extraction technique and corrected grammar and spelling mistakes in the article.

Points 2.7. I dissolved the PDA medium powder with distilled water and then added the same volume of herbaceous peony polyphenols solution with a concentration of 1.6% , making the final PDA medium polyphenols concentration of 8%.

Chapter 4. I corrected the sentence and the format.

Chapter 5. I added the conclusion prospects for application and the direction of further research.

The revised article is in the attachment.

Thank you very much for your advice, which is very important to me！

kind regards，

Pinyue Li

2022/12/26

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 2 Report

Ref: The manuscript entitled “Herbaceous peony polyphenols extend the vase life of cut flowers” is an interesting study with practical application in the floriculture industry. In my opinion, the manuscript needs some changes. Pleas replace the word ‘ideal’ with ‘potential’ in the first line of the abstract. I suggest adding one conclusion based sentence at the last of the abstract. The keywords should be different from the title of the article. The introduction is well written and up to date with appropriate and relevant literature. Please correct the first sentence of section 2.1. I mean add ‘sourced’ or ‘harvested’ after were. I suggest adding some more harvest related information for the flowers. What were the major identified polyphenols in the flowers of peony petals? How many flowers were used in each replicate and treatment? I mean experimental units. The materials and methods are reproducible. Why only one concentration of polyphenols was selected for the experiment? The results are well written and concise but I think discussion can be improved further. Please change the color of graphs as yellow and light bluish does not look much different from each other.

Author Response

Dear reviewer,

Thank you for your guidance and affirmation of my research. My answer to your question is as follows:

1. I have replaced the word 'ideal' with 'potential' in the first line of the abstract.

2. I added one conclusion based sentence'Therefore, herbaceous peony polyphenols can significantly extend the vase life of cut flowers' at the last of the abstract.

3. I Changed the key words of the article.

4. I corrected the first sentence of section 2.1.

5. I added the harvest date for the flowers.

6. The major identified polyphenols in the flowers of herbaceouspeony petals are dendroside, catechin, vanillic acid, ferulic acid, rutin et al. It has been studied in previous articles, so there is not much in this study.The polyphenols in this study refer to the mixture of these polyphenols.

7. I uesd 5g flower petals in each replicate and treatment.

8. In the pre-test, we found that the minimum inhibitory concentration of herbaceous peony polyphenols to E. coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and other common bacteria was 8% , in order to find out whether 8% herbaceous peony polyphenols has a general inhibitory effect on the bacteria produced during vase life, we chose only one kind of concentration of bacteria in this study.

9.Blue and yellow are very meaningful colors to me, and I would appreciate it if I could keep the icon color the same.

The revised article is in the attachment.

Thank you very much for your advice, which is very important to me！

kind regards，

Pinyue Li

2022/12/26

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf