Effect of Feed Concentrate Intake on the Environmental Impact of Dairy Cows in an Alpine Mountain Region Including Soil Carbon Sequestration and Effect on Biodiversity
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
The Authors have investigated an interesting topic and the theme has been properly described.
I would like to congratulate authors for the good-quality of the article, the literature reported used to write the paper, and for the clear and appropriate structure. The manuscript is well written, presented and discussed, and understandable to a specialist readership.
In general, the organization and the structure of the article are satisfactory and in agreement with the journal instructions for authors. The subject is adequate with the overall journal scope.
The work shows a conscientious study in which a very exhaustive discussion of the literature available has been carried out. The introduction provides sufficient background, and the other sections include results clearly presented and analyzed exhaustively.
So, I recommend the acceptance of the paper.
Author Response
Response to Reviewer 1 Comments
Point 1: The Authors have investigated an interesting topic and the theme has been properly described.
I would like to congratulate authors for the good-quality of the article, the literature reported used to write the paper, and for the clear and appropriate structure. The manuscript is well written, presented and discussed, and understandable to a specialist readership.
In general, the organization and the structure of the article are satisfactory and in agreement with the journal instructions for authors. The subject is adequate with the overall journal scope.
The work shows a conscientious study in which a very exhaustive discussion of the literature available has been carried out. The introduction provides sufficient background, and the other sections include results clearly presented and analyzed exhaustively.
So, I recommend the acceptance of the paper.
Response 1: The authors thank the referee for this comment.
Reviewer 2 Report
Manuscript ID: sustainability-738253
Title: Effect of feed concentrate intake on the environmental impact in dairy cows in an Alpine Mountain region including soil carbon sequestration and effect on biodiversity
The article is interesting and uses an innovative approach, the discussion of the results are well structured as well as the conclusion. Only minor revisions are required.
Please revise the English of the manuscript, a lot of sentence were not well written.
In addition, I suggest to the Authors to revise the references in the text. Some of them are reported only as number in the text, I suggest to report it as name of the first author et al. followed by the number [ ].
Specific Comments:
Line 45: please add this sentence in order to introduce the issue: “Methanogenesis in the rumen is an essential metabolic process to maintain steady state fermentation as this scavenges the molecular hydrogen generated during fermentation. The methane production from enteric fermentation in animal agriculture contributes around 20% of the total global methane. (Boussaada A. et al. (2017) Comparison of the Effect of Olives Leaves Extracts (Olea europaea) on In vitro Methane Production, Fermentation Efficiency and Protozoa Activity. Global Veterinaria 18 (6): 445-453.).”
Lines 69-70: please briefly describe the utilized methods (Damage Score and ReCiPe end point model).
Line 74: in which period and for how long time was conducted the observation of the farms?
Statistical analysis: at which level was set the statistical difference? Add it in to the text.
Table 2: Please change “Net Energy Milk “in “NEl – Net energy for lactation”.
Lines 154 and 162 and 194: please remove the numbers near the subtitle.
Line 260: The reference Guerci et al. was not numbered.
Line 264: Add this paper in order to validate “As reported by Calabrò et al. (Calabrò S., et al. (2013) Estimation of in vitro methane production in buffalo and cow. Buffalo Bullettin, 32 (2): 924-927) reported that feedstuffs characterized by high structural glucides of low quality, resulted in a highest CH4 production in cows as well as in buffalo.”
Lines 268-271: voluntary feed intake? I don’t understand this sentence.
Line 212: please, remove the results without statistical significance in the results and discussion.
Author Response
# Reviewer 2
Point 1: Title: Effect of feed concentrate intake on the environmental impact in dairy cows in an Alpine Mountain region including soil carbon sequestration and effect on biodiversity
The article is interesting and uses an innovative approach, the discussion of the results are well structured as well as the conclusion. Only minor revisions are required.
Please revise the English of the manuscript, a lot of sentence were not well written.
In addition, I suggest to the Authors to revise the references in the text. Some of them are reported only as number in the text, I suggest to report it as name of the first author et al. followed by the number [ ].
Response 1: The English language has been revised, and the bibliography has been corrected.
Point 2: Line 45: please add this sentence in order to introduce the issue: “Methanogenesis in the rumen is an essential metabolic process to maintain steady state fermentation as this scavenges the molecular hydrogen generated during fermentation. The methane production from enteric fermentation in animal agriculture contributes around 20% of the total global methane. (Boussaada A. et al. (2017) Comparison of the Effect of Olives Leaves Extracts (Olea europaea) on In vitro Methane Production, Fermentation Efficiency and Protozoa Activity. Global Veterinaria 18 (6): 445-453.).”
Response 2: The sentence was added, see lines 46-49
Point 3: Lines 69-70: please briefly describe the utilized methods (Damage Score and ReCiPe end point model)
Response 3: A brief description has been added, see lines 71-76
Point 4: Line 74: in which period and for how long time was conducted the observation of the farms?
Response 4: The period has been added, see line 86
Point 5: Line 74: in which period and for how long time was conducted the observation of the farms?
Response 5: The level of significance has been added, see line 85
Point 6: Table 2: Please change “Net Energy Milk “in “NEl – Net energy for lactation”.
Response 6: It has been changed
Point 7: Lines 154 and 162 and 194: please remove the numbers near the subtitle.
Response 7: They have been deleted.
Point 8: Line 260: The reference Guerci et al. was not numbered.
Response 8: It has been added.
Point 9: Line 264: Add this paper in order to validate “As reported by Calabrò et al. (Calabrò S., et al. (2013) Estimation of in vitro methane production in buffalo and cow. Buffalo Bullettin, 32 (2): 924-927) reported that feedstuffs characterized by high structural glucides of low quality, resulted in a highest CH4 production in cows as well as in buffalo.”
Response 9: It has been added, see lines 279-281
Point 10: Lines 268-271: voluntary feed intake? I don’t understand this sentence.
Response 10: It has been clarified, see line 279
Point 11: Line 212: please, remove the results without statistical significance in the results and discussion.
Response 11: It has been deleted.
