Influence of Temperature and Wetness on Taphrina deformans Ascospore and Blastospore Germination: Disease Forecasting and Validation

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

The article titled "Influence of temperature and wetness on Taphrina deformans germination of ascospores and blastospores:  diseases forecasting and validation", addresses a topic of interest in stone fruit trees. In the study, the optimal temperatures and wetness for the germination of ascospores and blastospores were established, and an adjusted model was validated in producer areas of Greece. Furthermore, with the predictive model on the risk of infection, particularly ascosporic, it is possible to adjust fungicide applications.

All corrections and observations were suggested in the  attached pdf. 

In M&M, L 139 "The Models", I suggest fully explaining the models (severity formula of both the ascosporic and blastosporic models) in this point.

Both Table 1 and Table 2 must have their title and foot of table. Then, they must correct the number of the tables.

Figures. The legends must be completed.

I think it is not correct to use the first and second experimental fields. I suggest using "peach orchard cv..." for each case. Review throughout the manuscript.

 

Comments for author File: Comments.pdf

The quality of english language is good. Only, some sentences need to be rewritten. See PDF.

Author Response

Dear Reviewer

I Thank you very much for your help to improve the quality of the paper. All your recommendations were incorporated in the the paper

Please, find our answers to your recommendations in the attachment

Sincerely

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 2 Report

Paper needs revision. Please especially do the following:

1- Add scientific names of host plants in the Abstract.

2- Rewrite Abstract in a good language and formatting. See comments on the pdf file.

3- Improve language throughout the paper.

4- Arrange keywords alphabetically.

5- Introduction is too lengthy. Reduce its length by deleting too lengthy details of life cycle of the pathogen.

6- In equations on lines 145 and 152, Use correct symbol of × instead of *.

7- Use h for hour and hours.

8- Line 252: Write "th" as superscript.

9- Support your statements in Discussion with appropriate references.

10- Format references uniformly and correctly.

11- Conclusion is too lengthy.

12- Try to add references of 2023.

 

Comments for author File: Comments.pdf

Needs moderate improvement in English

Author Response

Dear Reviewer

Thank you very much for your recommendations to improve the quality of the paper. The paper was revised incorporated all your recommendations. Please find the my answers to your recommendations directly on the attached pdf

The English were revised from Mr. John Cullum, Lecture at Writtle University College

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 3 Report

In this study, the authors investigated the impacts of the temperature and wetness conditions on the germination of blastospores and ascospores of local isolates of the fungus Taphrina deformans. The results showed that the ascospore and blastospore germination rates were reduced as temperatures increased from 0 to 20°C and decreased from 25 to 30°C. Ascospore and blastospore germination were utterly inhibited at -3 and 35°C. Under constant temperature at 20°C, the percentage of both ascospore and blastospore germination of T. deformans was gradually increased as the wetness period increased from 9 to 15 h. Furthermore, this study also validated the predictive models of T. deformans and found that although both ascosporic and blastosporic models could correctly predict the infection periods, there were differences in the prediction of infection severity. Overall, the results of this study have the potential to develop more targeted and efficient disease management strategies for commercial peach orchards. However, there are still many problems with the manuscript in its current version. The biggest problem is the quality of the figures, which needs to be improved carefully. Some comments can be found below.

 

1. Another major issue with the manuscript is the quality of the English. On first reviewing the paper, I made numerous edits/changes to the text and found myself unnecessarily distracted from assessing the paper on scientific grounds. There is no doubt that the quality of the paper is affected.

2. Figures 1-4, 5-6, and 7-8 are repetitive, and they should be combined.

3. Tables 1-3: There were some typesetting issues with the table titles and captions.

4. To better write the article, I suggest improving the writing of the introduction and discussion. There are only 20 references, which is too few for such a paper that would be published in Agriculture.

5. Some references are rather old. They can not represent the current research state of the literature and should be updated with the latest references.

 

6. Please check all the references and ensure they conform to the acceptable format of the Agriculture.

Extensive editing of English language required.

Author Response

The biggest problem is the quality of the figures, which needs to be improved carefully. Some comments can be found below.

1. Another major issue with the manuscript is the quality of the English. On first reviewing the paper, I made numerous edits/changes to the text and found myself unnecessarily distracted from assessing the paper on scientific grounds. There is no doubt that the quality of the paper is affected.

The English were revised from Mr. John Cullum, Lecture at Writtle University College

2. Figures 1-4, 5-6, and 7-8 are repetitive, and they should be combined.

The figures 1-4 were extracted directly from SPSS. I asked help from Prof Zisis Michailides who is specialist in the use of SPSS for the way to combine the figures and he answered me that unfortunately there is no way. Of course I am very willing to accept any help from the reviewer how I can do it

figures 5 & 6 were combined

figures 7 & 8 were combined

3. Tables 1-3: There were some typesetting issues with the table titles and captions.

Revised

4. To better write the article, I suggest improving the writing of the introduction and discussion. There are only 20 references, which is too few for such a paper that would be published in Agriculture.

14 new references were added to improve the introduction and discussion. Now the number of references is 29.

5. Some references are rather old. They can not represent the current research state of the literature and should be updated with the latest references.

The old references were deleted. New references were added both in Introduction and Discussion

6. Please check all the references and ensure they conform to the acceptable format of the Agriculture.

Done

 

Comments on the Quality of English Language

Extensive editing of English language required.

The English were revised from Mr. John Cullum, Lecture at Writtle University College

Reviewer 4 Report

Peach leaf curl is a significant disease that affects peach trees. Given the  economic importance of peach production. This study investigated the temperature and wetness conditions that affect the germination of blastospores and ascospores of local isolates of  the fungus Taphrina deformans. Then researcher constrected two models based both ascospore and blastospore germination for correctly predict infection periods.

Howerer,  in addition to temperature and wetness conditions, the fungus T. deformans infect leaf of peach is also affected by overwintering base of T. deformans, light, peach variety and other factors. The paper just studied temperature and wetness conditions, this model cannot to fungicide applications and disease management strategies for commercial peach orchards.

Meanwhile, Taphrina deformans should be abbreviated the second time the article appears. The table1,table 2 and table3 had showed all the data, the Fig 1-6 are no need to apear again. The R2(Quadratic) were all lower than 0.9 of 4 models. The R2(Quadratic) of Fig1 and Fig2 even lower 0.65, it means that the model  is a very poor fit.

So, this manuscript needs to  further refine the model factors. Not suitable to publication in its current state. 

Taphrina deformans should be abbreviated the second time the article appears. 

Author Response

Peach leaf curl is a significant disease that affects peach trees. Given the  economic importance of peach production. This study investigated the temperature and wetness conditions that affect the germination of blastospores and ascospores of local isolates of  the fungus Taphrina deformans. Then researcher constrected two models based both ascospore and blastospore germination for correctly predict infection periods. Howerer,  in addition to temperature and wetness conditions, the fungus T. deformans infect leaf of peach is also affected by overwintering base of T. deformans, light, peach variety and other factors. The paper just studied temperature and wetness conditions, this model cannot to fungicide applications and disease management strategies for commercial peach orchards.

This is a Weather-based forecasting model. Weather-based Logistic regression models are commonly used for binary disease outcomes (presence/absence of disease). For plant diseases, these models were extensively used in Agriculture. These models have also developed to manage fungicide applications.

Very few if none models have been developed to predict the appearance of a plant disease based on overwintering base. This is possibly due to the lack of appropriate methods to record it. In commercial fields, it is sure that for endemic diseases such as Leaf Curl, there are available overwintering forms of the fungus although it is not count the intensity of the inocula. In addition, Model developed based on overwintering form is another different model than the model described here which however can be validated in commercial orchards because of absence of appropriate method to record the overwintering forms in the field

Meanwhile, Taphrina deformans should be abbreviated the second time the article appears. The table1,table 2 and table3 had showed all the data, the Fig 1-6 are no need to apear again. The R2(Quadratic) were all lower than 0.9 of 4 models. The R2(Quadratic) of Fig1 and Fig2 even lower 0.65, it means that the model  is a very poor fit.

To avoid the poor fit, the models were validated under field conditions.

Comments on the Quality of English Language

 

The English were revised from Mr. John Cullum, Lecture at Writtle University College

Taphrina deformans should be abbreviated the second time the article appears. 

Corrected

 

Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Round 2

Reviewer 2 Report

Authors have revised the paper carefully. Now it is acceptable for publication.

Minor correction are needed

Reviewer 3 Report

I recommend the paper for publication.