An Original Experimental Design to Quantify and Model Net Mineralization of Organic Nitrogen in the Field
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
Please see my specific comments in the attached PDF. I think that this is a well written paper that addressed many of the commonly used indices to predict N mineralization and modeling under field conditions. The authors conducted experiments on an impressive about of fields and address the issues with estimating basal mineralization in field studies.
I suggest this paper be accepted with minor revisions. I have a few minor edits but also really suggest that the authors earlier address the use of 67 fields of the 137 fields measured to help readers. Additionally, the term normalized day must be better addressed and explained since it is such an important part of this model. Better addressing normalized days will help readers who are not familiar with the author's chosen model. The authors should better identify how the normalized day is implemented (time step and thresholds used for temperature and water).
Comments for author File: 
Comments.pdf
Author Response
done in the cover letter
Reviewer 2 Report
A fantastic piece of work, methodically there is nothing wrong with it. It has a very strong practical relevance and uses well-known balance sheet methods combined with well-known analytical methods. However, the practical benefit of this work is enormous. This methodology could be introduced throughout the EU as a standard monitoring system that allows regions with different agricultural intensity, different climates and different soil conditions to be compared with one another. In this way, regionally adapted environmental and agricultural production standards could be developed. I could well imagine using the cropping system indicators (I_Sys) to look more closely at the history of the areas and to evaluate the parameters of previous use more closely and to subject them to a more intensive statistical evaluation. Certainly, differentiated statements about the mineralization process could be further specified in this way. The question of whether Total N uptake of maize can be calculated by multiplying N in the aboveground biomass by 1.15 to estimate its belowground N at harvest could also be examined in more detail. I also congratulate the authors for the practical reference to determining the exact fertilization requirement. This is not only economically relevant, but also extremely relevant to water management and the environment. I think that money to fund such research is very well spent.
Author Response
done in the cover letter
