Physiological Study of the Efficacy of Archer^® Eclipse in the Protection against Sunburn in Cucumber Plants

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

The manuscript reports some interesting new data with practical application but there are some issues that I point out below for the improvement of the work.

• In the introduction I was expecting to read also about climate change or crisis and the possibility of even increasing the physiological disorder sunburn, which provides an extra reason for the importance of this study.
• Lines 54-57 add a reference.
• The info about the role of kaolin (lines 67-73) is restricted, please extend it.
• 2.11 statistical analysis. Please clarify the mean of replication, one replication=a plant or plant group. Moreover, n=15 for leaf temperature was from how many plants?
• An optical evaluation on a scale of the damage could be very useful. Do you have any observation data? I think it could be very helpful also to observe the symptom’s appearance on a time scale.
• In all tables I suggest adding details about the date of sampling and measurement, so the reader can read the table without checking the M&M section.
• The discussion section is satisfactory, but I would like to read also about the role of genetic material on this physiological damage and its interaction with the application. Maybe the use of a sensitive and a resistance cultivar will be useful in feature work.
• Provide also some more info about the factors that you should study in future research.

Author Response

R1: In the introduction I was expecting to read also about climate change or crisis and the possibility of even increasing the physiological disorder sunburn, which provides an extra reason for the importance of this study.

Authors. We have added some sentence about this in lines 36-38 with its reference.

 

R1: Lines 54-57 add a reference.

Authors. Done.

 

R1: The info about the role of kaolin (lines 67-73) is restricted, please extend it.

Authors. Done.

 

R1: 2.11 statistical analysis. Please clarify the mean of replication, one replication=a plant or plant group. Moreover, n=15 for leaf temperature was from how many plants?

Authors. The experimental design consisted of a complete randomized block with nine plants per treatment. All the biochemical analyses were repeated in triplicate, and their average was considered one experimental unit. The average was obtained from nine experimental unit data (n=9). Leaf temperature, however, was based on 15 data per treatment. We measure at least one leaf of every plant (9 plants per treatment) and randomly 6 more leaves to increase sample size. This has been added in the materials and methods section.

 

R1: An optical evaluation on a scale of the damage could be very useful. Do you have any observation data? I think it could be very helpful also to observe the symptom's appearance on a time scale.

Authors. This are few treatments, thus, I believe that it is not a good idea classify numerically the symptoms. Readers can see it clearly in the image.

 

 

R1: In all tables I suggest adding details about the date of sampling and measurement, so the reader can read the table without checking the M&M section.

Authors. Done.

 

R1: The discussion section is satisfactory, but I would like to read also about the role of genetic material on this physiological damage and its interaction with the application. Maybe the use of a sensitive and a resistance cultivar will be useful in feature work.

Authors. We have introduced some brief sentence about this.

 

R1: Provide also some more info about the factors that you should study in future research.

Authors. Done. The next sentence has been added “However, it will be necessary to address how to optimize Archer Eclipse use, namely by increasing knowledge concerning the plant response to its application. Specially, complementary studies should be carried out to analyse the antioxidant system of the plants in detail. Collect more information about crops that could benefit from this technology and determining the best time and frequency of applications. Moreover, studies examining the interactions of Archer Eclipse application with other agronomic practices, such as cover crops and deficit irrigation strategies, are needed to improve the effectiveness of Archer Eclipse under more severe stress conditions.”.

Reviewer 2 Report

Horticulturae-MDPI

MS No.: horticulturae-1720064

Manuscript Title: "Physiological study of the efficacy of Archer Eclipse® in the protection against sunburn in cucumber plants"

Reviewer comments:

The present study has great significant value to improve the production of cucumber plants by using Archer Eclipse® for protecting against sunburn. However, need to improve the manuscript for readability and understanding. Please see my comments below.

Abstract:

• L 14: “Agricultural” This word is additional, and does not require its presence, so pls remove it.
• Write specific treatment names which one is produced better effects.
• The abbreviation should be used after the full term. Please be consistent with the usage of all abbreviations. Pls revise the abbreviations in the whole part of MS.
• In the abstract, pls give the important results for the protective effects of Archer Eclipse® for the growth and physiological measurements that have been estimated and studied.
• Numerical data or ratios should be written in place to show the effects of some treatments that have given outstanding results. Pls write specific results.
• L 27-28, “In conclusion, this study confirms the efficiency of Archer Eclipse® in protecting a sensitive vegetable plant such as cucumber, from sunburn-inducing conditions” pls write the conclusion in the abstract part in a direct form because it is unclear.

Keywords: I suggest rephrasing some words because keywords should not repeat words from the title. In addition, I know well the term ROS, the authors have to define this term, especially when they use it for the first time. Moreover, the authors have not used abbreviations in the keywords.

Introduction:

• Well written. It is more suitable to start the introduction by explaining about importance and benefits of the cucumber. Genus name must be italic. Please check all these.
• L 33: “Agricultural” This word is additional, and does not require its presence, so pls remove it.
• L 34 and 35: “These areas are characterized by a high solar radiation and elevated temperatures during the crop’s growing season”. Pls add relevant ref.
• L 35-38: In addition, the climate change expected in the coming years will significantly affect the overall agricultural production in these regions, as longer periods of extreme solar radiation and high temperatures are expected to result in a significant reduction in both crop quality and yield [2]. So, pls shorten and avoid repetition.
• L 40 and 41:” reactive oxygen species (ROS)” pls use the abbreviation only.
• L 39-42: “Solar damage in plant tissues, caused by the excess of high temperature and light irradiation, generate photo-oxidative stress due to the high accumulation of reactive oxygen species (ROS), a phenomenon called photo-oxidation, and lead to the manifestation of typical sunburn symptoms” Pls add relevant ref.
• L 56-60: “A solution is to use sprinkler irrigation systems that cool crops to counteract the effects of high summer temperatures. However, this system requires large amounts of technology, availability of good quality water, and it is costly, in addition to having a secondary effect on the spread and appearance of some diseases”. Pls add relevant ref.
• L 60-64: “Another method is to use coloured nets for the development of crop shading, although this type of installation is usually associated with an excessive cost. In recent years, the direct application of protective compounds mostly based on the use of particle films to plants has been proposed as a new useful and effective tool in the prevention of sunburn [5]”. Pls shorten and avoid repetition.
• The current state of MS needs some more attention.

Material and methods

• Archer Eclipse®: Can you explain in more detail?
• The materials and methods part is clear and well written.
• The critical point of this research is that the authors had to apply a number of sunburn treatments, especially since the experiment was conducted under controlled conditions, in order to know the effects of the experimental treatments on them. In addition, concentrations or levels of the experimental treatments used were not chosen. The authors also did not mention whether the treatment was done once or more. This should be mentioned in detail because of its importance in understanding the course of this research
• L 117-122: 2.3. Plant Sampling “At the end of the experiment, when the appearance of sunburn symptoms on leaves was clearly detected, subsamples of plant material were harvested, ………. Can you write the time by day that the authors took samples?
• Please write relevant references regarding all growth and physiological parameters that were assessed.

Results and discussion

• The results presented are clearly presented; my main concern is about the discussion, which is not of a good level.
• n=9: Can you explain?
• The protective effects of the sunburn of cucumber plants should be written through the use of experimental treatment in more depth.
• Please, make an effort to synthesize the text avoiding redundancies and repetitions in the discussion.
• Please add more discussion for more explanation especially in the important parameters as much as possible, taking into account the lack of violation of the content and the non-repetition.
• Some parts of the discussion sentences need clarification and interpretation, and recent references need to be used as much as possible.
• This part should be better organized and extended. It is important to try to better deepen and explain.
• Conclusions; conclusion is okay and well written also. Write the best results for the cucumber growth and improvement. However, do not repeat the above sentences in the conclusion part. In conclusion, you should write a summary of your work in short sentences so that I, as a reader of this article, can understand what the article ended up being.

References;

• The number of references is about 27 ref. I think it is not enough. So, pls add relevant and recent references avoiding the old ones and repetition and self-citation as soon as possible.
• There are several recent ref. in the same trend of the topic of this MS, pls pay attention to this point.
• Make sure all cited references are already included in the list of references
• Write the name of the journal in italic form.
• I noticed some journal names are in abbreviated form.
• All scientific names are written should be italic.

General comments:

• The manuscript contains some typo errors; please revise it very carefully. A careful revision of the English Grammar is required. So, language needs to be improved thoroughly
• Pls, shorten the long sentences and add Ref. as soon as possible with avoiding repetition.

Recommendation: this is a good study, which certainly merits a publication after a major revision.

 

 

 

 

 

Comments for author File: Comments.pdf

Author Response

 Abstract
R2 - Abstract: L 14: "Agricultural" This word is additional, and does not require its presence, so pls remove it.
Authors. Done.
R2 - Abstract: Write specific treatment names which one is produced better effects.
Authors. Done.
R2 - Abstract: The abbreviation should be used after the full term. Please be consistent with the usage of all abbreviations. Pls revise the abbreviations in the whole part of MS.
Authors. Checked.
R2 - Abstract: In the abstract, pls give the important results for the protective effects of Archer Eclipse® for the growth and physiological measurements that have been estimated and studied. Numerical data or ratios should be written in place to show the effects of some treatments that
have given outstanding results. Pls write specific results.
Authors. Added the most important results and its numerical data.
R2 - Abstract: L 27-28, "In conclusion, this study confirms the efficiency of Archer Eclipse® in protecting a sensitive vegetable plant such as cucumber, from sunburn-inducing conditions" pls write the conclusion in the abstract part in a direct form because it is unclear.
Authors. Done.
R2 - Keywords: I suggest rephrasing some words because keywords should not repeat words from the title. In addition, I know well the term ROS, the authors have to define this term, especially when they use it for the first time. Moreover, the authors have not used abbreviations in the keywords.
Authors. Done.
Introduction
R2 - Introduction: Well written. It is more suitable to start the introduction by explaining about importance and benefits of the cucumber.
Authors. The use of cucumber in this work is not of special relevance. Its use is because it is especially sensitive to high insolation conditions. That is why we have preferred to start the introduction by highlighting the great problem that conditions of high solar radiation and high temperatures can pose, which are also going to be more frequent with climate change and can affect any crop, not just cucumber.
R2 - Introduction: Genus name must be italic. Please check all these.
Authors. Checked.
R2 - Introduction: L 33: "Agricultural" This word is additional, and does not require its presence, so pls remove it.
Authors. Done.
R2 - Introduction: L 34 and 35: "These areas are characterized by a high solar radiation and elevated temperatures during the crop's growing season". Pls add relevant ref.
Authors. Done.
R2 - Introduction: L 35-38: In addition, the climate change expected in the coming years will significantly affect the overall agricultural production in these regions, as longer periods of extreme solar radiation and high temperatures are expected to result in a significant reduction in both crop quality and yield [2]. So, pls shorten and avoid repetition.
Authors. Done.
R2 - Introduction: L 40 and 41:" reactive oxygen species (ROS)" pls use the abbreviation only.
Authors. Done.
R2 - Introduction: L 39-42: "Solar damage in plant tissues, caused by the excess of high temperature and light irradiation, generate photo-oxidative stress due to the high accumulation of reactive oxygen species (ROS), a phenomenon called photo-oxidation, and lead to the manifestation of typical sunburn symptoms"
Pls add relevant ref.
Authors. Done.
R2 - Introduction: L 56-60: "A solution is to use sprinkler irrigation systems that cool crops to counteract the effects of high summer temperatures. However, this system requires large amounts of technology, availability of good quality water, and it is costly, in addition to having a secondary effect on the spread and appearance of some diseases". Pls add relevant ref.
Authors. Done.
R2 - Introduction: L 60-64: "Another method is to use coloured nets for the development of crop shading, although this type of installation is usually associated with an excessive cost. In recent years, the direct application of protective compounds mostly based on the use of particle films to plants has been proposed as a new useful and effective tool in the prevention of sunburn [5]". Pls shorten and avoid repetition.
Authors. Done.
Material and methods
R2 - Material and methods: Archer Eclipse®: Can you explain in more detail?
Authors. Archer® Eclipse was formulated with calcium (Ca) and zinc (Zn) salts, and vegetal extract coming from by-products from the corn processing industry (corn steep liquor, CSL, as a nitrogen source). This vegetal extract contains (µg g-1): 4-Aminobutyrate (33.20), Alanine (311.58), Asparagine (70.26), Isoleucine (48.43), Leucine (103.24), Valine (76.99), 3-Phenyllactate (46.94), 4-Hydroxyphenylacetate (100.16), Formate (2.67), Lactate (2487.15),
Indoleacetic acid (7.48), Choline (28.96) and Trigonelline (3.15)……..See line L116-124.
R2 - Material and methods: The critical point of this research is that the authors had to apply a number of sunburn treatments, especially since the experiment was conducted under controlled conditions, in order to know the effects of the experimental treatments on them. In addition, concentrations or levels of the experimental treatments used were not chosen. The authors also
did not mention whether the treatment was done once or more. This should be mentioned in detail because of its importance in understanding the course of this research
Authors. We have added details about this topic.
R2 - Material and methods: L 117-122: 2.3. Plant Sampling "At the end of the experiment, when the appearance of sunburn symptoms on leaves was clearly detected, subsamples of plant material were harvested, .......... Can you write the time by day that the authors took samples?
Authors. We have added these details.
R2 - Material and methods: Please write relevant references regarding all growth and physiological parameters that were assessed.
Authors. Done.
Results and discussion
R2 - Results and discussion: n=9: Can you explain?
Authors: All the biochemical analyses were repeated in triplicate, and their average was considered one experimental unit. All physiological measurements were done in one leaves per plant. Thus, the average was obtained from nine experimental unit data (n=9). Leaf temperature, however, was measured on 15 singles leaves per treatment (n=15)……this has been introduced in the ms.
R2 - Results and discussion: The protective effects of the sunburn of cucumber plants should be written through the use of experimental treatment in more depth. Please, make an effort to synthesize the text avoiding redundancies and repetitions in the discussion.
Authors: We have synthesized the discussion, removal redundancies and repetitions. Now, the discussion is clearer and direct.
R2 - Results and discussion
Please add more discussion for more explanation especially in the important parameters as much as possible, taking into account the lack of violation of the content and the non-repetition.
Authors: We don’t understand well this comments. Nevertheless, we have added some new sentences to the discussion to deep some detail but without falling in the typical speculation which usually happen when using data from other experiments and authors.
R2 - Results and discussion
Some parts of the discussion sentences need clarification and interpretation, and recent references need to be used as much as possible. This part should be better organized and extended. It is important to try to better deepen and explain.
Authors: We have revised again the discussion and added new and recent references, but we want to avoid fall in too speculation in the ms. Thank for your comments about this part of the ms.
R2 – Conclusions: conclusion is okay and well written also. Write the best results for the cucumber growth and improvement. However, do not repeat the above sentences in the conclusion part. In conclusion, you should write a summary of your work in short sentences so that I, as a reader of this article, can understand what the article ended up being.
Authors. We have added the best results and did an effort summarizing in short sentences this work.
R2 – References: The number of references is about 27 ref. I think it is not enough. So, pls add relevant and recent references avoiding the old ones and repetition and self-citation as soon as possible. There are several recent ref. in the same trend of the topic of this MS, pls pay attention to this point.
Authors. We have added more references, avoiding old ones, repetition and self-citation as much as could be possible.
R2 – References: Make sure all cited references are already included in the list of references.
Write the name of the journal in italic form.
Authors. Done.
R2 – References: I noticed some journal names are in abbreviated form.
Authors. According to Horticulturae’s instructions is necessary to include journal names in abbreviated form:
Journal Articles:
1. Author 1, A.B.; Author 2, C.D. Title of the article. Abbreviated Journal Name Year, Volume, page range.
R2 – References: All scientific names are written should be italic.
Authors. Done

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 3 Report

The current paper submitted to Horticulturae MDPI perfectly fits within the Special issue of biostimulants and elicitors. The authors assessed the effect of an anti traspirant kaolin on the agronomical and physiological responses of important vegetable crops such as cucumber.

Although the experimental design is quite simple the manuscript is interesting and can have an important applied impact on researchers growers and extension specialists.

Why this application rate of kaolin was used.

In the abstract section the authors should absolutely avoid to report the commercial name of the product it should be only mention in the materials and methods section.

I urge the authors to report the differences between treatments in percentage, especially in the abstract and results from sections in order to be clearer for the readers of Horticulturae.

The conclusion section is badly written and should be re-written. The authors should avoid repeating in the conclusion section the results.

Author Response

Reviewer 3

 

R3. Why this application rate of kaolin was used?

Authors. We did this previous experiment with different doses and the best one was (2%, v/v).

 

R3. In the abstract section the authors should absolutely avoid to report the commercial name of the product it should be only mention in the materials and methods section.

Authors. We have consulted with the editorial office and there is no problem with use commertial name.

 

R3. I urge the authors to report the differences between treatments in percentage, especially in the abstract and results from sections in order to be clearer for the readers of Horticulturae.

Authors. Done.

 

R3. The conclusion section is badly written and should be re-written. The authors should avoid repeating in the conclusion section the results.

Authors. Done.

Round 2

Reviewer 2 Report

Reviewer comments-R2- Horticulturae (ISSN 2311-7524)

Manuscript ID: horticulturae-1720064

Manuscript Title: "Physiological study of the efficacy of Archer Eclipse® in the protection against sunburn in cucumber plants"

The comments:

After reviewing the entire manuscript and reviewing my previous comments on the manuscript, I found that the manuscript has improved now, but the following must be taken into account:

1-     Archer Eclipse®: Can you explain in more detail?

2-     The critical point of this research is that the authors had to apply a number of sunburn treatments, especially since the experiment was conducted under controlled conditions, in order to know the effects of the experimental treatments on them. In addition, concentrations or levels of the experimental treatments used were not chosen. The authors also did not mention whether the treatment was done once or more. This should be mentioned in detail because of its importance in understanding the course of this research

3-     The protective effects of the sunburn of cucumber plants should be written through the use of experimental treatment in more depth.

4-     2- The references should be reviewed very carefully, especially after the modifications made in the entire manuscript

5-     The manuscript needs linguistic revision to increase the quality of its scientific writing

 

 

Comments for author File: Comments.pdf

Author Response

In the next lists, you can find all the changes we have made in the manuscript:

Reviewer 2 (R2).

R2 - Archer Eclipse®: Can you explain in more detail?

Authors. We have added the next sentences in the materials and methods.

“Archer® Eclipse was formulated with calcium (Ca) and zinc (Zn) salts, and a vegetal extract coming from by-products from the corn processing industry (corn steep liquor, CSL, as a nitrogen source). CSL is a viscous liquid mixture consisting entirely of water-soluble components of corn steeped in water. The steeping process starts with soaking corn grain in open wooden tanks at 45 to 52 ºC for 40 to 48 hours.  Sulphur dioxide (SO₂) is added to prevent microbial growth and to aid in solubilizing material.  Initial concentrations of SO₂ are between 0.1 to 0.2% (pH 3.8 to 4.5) and decreases to 0.05% and 0.01% after 5 and 10 hours, respectively.  Active fermentation occurs in the steep water and lactic acid bacterial populations increase as SO₂ concentrations decrease.  This separates the starch from the gluten, solubilizes and breaks down proteins, and softens the corn to facilitate grinding.  The amino acid and peptide rich steep liquor is collected and concentrated [Zhou,2022]” .

R2 - The critical point of this research is that the authors had to apply a number of sunburn treatments, especially since the experiment was conducted under controlled conditions, in order to know the effects of the experimental treatments on them. In addition, concentrations or levels of the experimental treatments used were not chosen. The authors also did not mention whether the treatment was done once or more. This should be mentioned in detail because of its importance in understanding the course of this research

 

Authors. We have added details about this topic.

- The plants were separated into two groups, one group were sprayed via foliar, just one time, with a homogenous layer of Archer® Eclipse (2%, v/v), each plant was treated with a mean volume of 50 mL of spraying solution.

 

- The experiment was replicated twice, and, not significant differences were found between them. Data are coming from the first experiment.

R2 - The protective effects of the sunburn of cucumber plants should be written through the use of experimental treatment in more depth

 Authors: I don’t understand this commetns. The rule of Archer® Eclipse in the protective effect can be found in the discussion.

R2 -The references should be reviewed very carefully, especially after the modifications made in the entire manuscript

 Authors:

Checked

 

R2 - The manuscript needs linguistic revision to increase the quality of its scientific writing 

Authors:

Ms. was revised by an English service