Effects of Chemical and Solar Soil-Disinfection Methods on Soil Bacterial Communities

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

This study is dedicated to the evaluation of the impact of soil disinfection methods on bacterial diversity and community’s composition. The tests were correctly planned and carried out. The quality of writing is fairly good.

This is an interesting paper to be considered for publication. Nevertheless, there are some details to deal with before publication. To improve the manuscript, authors should consider the following recommendations:

1-Authors did not justify the choice of the activated carbon concentration used in association with solar disinfection.

2- Authors should improve materiel and methods part essentially “Analysis of Soil Chemical Properties” part by including the main steps of the conducted experiment and the references of the protocols.

3- In tables make sure to put the letters indicating the significant differences between the values, on superscript form.

4- Reference list must be revised. Many references are not cited according to the journal guidelines.

Author Response

Dear Editor,

Thank you for your letter of decision and for the referee’s comments concerning our manuscript entitled “Effects of Chemical and Solar Soil-Disinfection Methods on Soil Bacterial Communities” (NO: sustainability-990864). We have studied the comments carefully and have corrected our manuscript accordingly. Please find below an overview of the changes with respect to the comments.

Reviewer # 1. This study is dedicated to the evaluation of the impact of soil disinfection methods on bacterial diversity and community’s composition. The tests were correctly planned and carried out.

The quality of writing is fairly good. This is an interesting paper to be considered for publication. Nevertheless, there are some details to deal with before publication. To improve the manuscript, authors should consider the following recommendations:

Comment 1. Authors did not justify the choice of the activated carbon concentration used in association with solar disinfection.

Response: Activated carbon + solar radiation membrane is an eco-friendly soil disinfestations method for managing soil-borne plant pathogens. However, little was known the impact of Activated carbon + solar radiation membrane on bacterial community structure in strawberry production systems under field conditions.

We want to identify the optimal usage of activated carbon in association with solar disinfection through this research.

Comment 2. Authors should improve materiel and methods part essentially “Analysis of Soil Chemical Properties” part by including the main steps of the conducted experiment and the references of the protocols. (page 3 line 133-140)

Response: The soil chemical properties were measured using the methods described by Bao. Soil organic carbon (SOC) was measured with the vitriol acid-potassium dichromate oxidation method, with 0.8 mol/L 1/6 K₂Cr₂O₇ at 170-180℃ for 5 minutes, followed by titration of the digestates with FeSO₄; total nitrogen (TN) was measured using the Kjeldahl method; available potassium (AK) in the soil was measured using flame photometry; available phosphorus (AP) was analyzed by the NaHCO₃ method. The pH of the soil was measured with a glass electrode in a 1:5 soil/water suspension.

Comment 3.In tables make sure to put the letters indicating the significant differences between the values, on superscript form.

Response: We checked the test data again and analyzed the data again. We confirmed that mistakes were made in the analysis process, which led to the mistakes. We have made correct modifications to the above mistakes.

Table 1. Effects of different soil disinfection methods on soil nutrients.

Comment 4.Reference list must be revised. Many references are not cited according to the journal guidelines.

Response: The references have been revised according to the comments of the reviewer.

Reviewer 2 Report

A sound presentation of a very interesting research project.  I made a modest number of comments on the attached iteration of your manuscript.

Comments for author File: Comments.pdf

Author Response

Dear Editor,

Thank you for your letter of decision and for the referee’s comments concerning our manuscript entitled “Effects of Chemical and Solar Soil-Disinfection Methods on Soil Bacterial Communities” (NO: sustainability-990864). We have studied the comments carefully and have corrected our manuscript accordingly. Please find below an overview of the changes with respect to the comments.

A sound presentation of a very interesting research project. I made a modest number of comments on the attached iteration of your manuscript.

Comment 1. Abstract: “So, one question--it seems like you are advocating the choice of the least-damaging soil disinfectant method. However, what are the benefits of disinfecting soils? Not sure that I see that here in your text”.

Response: We add to “Activated carbon + solar radiation membrane is an eco-friendly soil disinfestations method for managing soil-borne plant pathogens. However, little was known the impact of Activated carbon + solar radiation membrane on bacterial community structure in strawberry production systems under field conditions”.

Comment 2. Introduction:

(1) Page 2 line 41-42 “Plantation of the same crop every year can result in changes in soil microflora and predominant microorganisms”.

Response: The sentence pattern can be changed “Planting the same crop every year can result in changes in soil  microflora and predominant microorganisms”.

(2) Page 2-3 line 42-45 “This makes the soil vulnerable and results in the deterioration of soil physicochemical properties, accumulation of plant autotoxins, reduction in microbial diversity, and increased abundance of pathogenic bacteria, thus leading to continuous cropping obstacles”.

Response: The sentence pattern can be changed “This makes the soil vulnerable can lead to the deterioration of soil physicochemical properties, accumulation of plant autotoxins, reduction in microbial diversity, and increased abundance of pathogenic bacteria, thus leading to continuous cropping obstacles”

(3) Page 4 line 96-97 “Why is it particularly important to test this system on strawberries?  Can you comment in your text?”

Response: Therefore, considering the strawberry continuous cropping field with severe soil-borne diseases Xingshou town in Changping, Beijing as the research site, the effects of different soil disinfection methods on the soil bacterial community structure and diversity, as well as the relationship between bacterial community and soil environmental factors, were evaluated using 16S rRNA macro genomics on the Illumina MiSeq Sequencing platform.

We have been made successfully the following modifications:

1. We have successfully edited grammatical revision;
2. We revised manuscript and table source files.

Additionally, details in the paper have been improved according to the reviewer's suggestion.

Once again, thank you very much for your time on my manuscript.

Yours sincerely,

Associate Prof. Qin Liu

Reviewer 3 Report

Authors

The authors report on “Effects of Chemical and Solar Soil-Disinfection Methods on Soil Bacterial Communities ". This article emphasizes on comprehensive evaluation of the impacts of different soil disinfection methods on bacterial community. The changes in the soil bacterial diversity and community composition were found by using RTFQ PCR. After analysis the results from different treatments they used, the authors found that damage caused by activated C plus solar radiation member to the soil bacterial community was less compared to that the damage caused by chemicals DZ and CP.

 This is an interesting and engaging study, which provides useful information and represents a valuable contribution about an important subject. This article is well written, and it has addressed every detail.

Author Response

Dear Editor,

Thank you for your letter of decision and for the referee’s comments concerning our manuscript entitled “Effects of Chemical and Solar Soil-Disinfection Methods on Soil Bacterial Communities” (NO: sustainability-990864). We have studied the comments carefully and have corrected our manuscript accordingly.

We have been made successfully the following modifications:

1. We have successfully edited grammatical revision;
2. We revised manuscript and table source files.

Additionally, details in the paper have been improved according to the reviewer's suggestion.

Thank you so much for your time on my manuscript.

Yours sincerely,

Associate Prof. Qin Liu