Effects of Degreening Treatment on Quality and Shelf-Life of Organic Lemons
, María José Giménez, María Emma García-Pastor, Alicia Dobón-Suárez, Sofía Pardo-Pina and Pedro J. ZapataRound 1
Reviewer 1 Report
Introduction
line 34: add the word "GLOBAL" on the phrase......total GLOBAL lemon production.
line 73: Reference?
Results
line 205: treatments? maybe it is better to replace this word with "....for both fruits treated and non-treated"
Author Response
REVIEWER 1
Dear reviewer, thank you very much for your useful comments which have aid to improve our original manuscript. Below you can find an itemed list of your comments and suggestions and the answer and modification performed in the revised manuscript according to your suggestions. The new information added to the revised manuscript has been highlighted in blue ink.
Introduction
- Line 34: Add the word "GLOBAL" on the phrase......total GLOBAL lemon production.
Answer: The word has been added according to your suggestion as follow (lines 32-35):
Nowadays, organic citrus production worldwide represents about 1 % of the total. Spain is one of the main organic lemon producers, achieving around 20 % of the total global lemon production [3,4].
- Line 73: Reference?
Answer: The reference has been added (lines 73-74):
All of these key factors could cause significant differences in the quality characteristics of lemon fruits during the senescence process [18].
Results
- Line 205: treatments? maybe it is better to replace this word with " for both fruits treated and non-treated"
Answer: The word has been replaced according to your suggestion as follow (lines 213-215):
In general terms, lemon fruit quality based on physico-chemical and sensory properties decreased during cold storage for both fruits treated and non-treated, the fruit overall liking was negatively affected.
English used in the manuscript has been revised and adapted by a non-native consultor according the suggestions of the Academic Editor and reviewers.
Author Response File: 
Author Response.docx
Reviewer 2 Report
1) Materials and methods: the description of sensorial analysis is missing
2) Figures: insert letters to highlight significant differences between treated and untreated
3) Clarify the degreening process as a natural effect of senescence or a treatment performed on the plant or on fruits? Clarify well on materials and methods.
If you have researched the effects of degreening on the chemical-physical and sensory analisys, I believe it is necessary to speak in the text and in the figures not of a treatment but of 1 and 2 harvests.
4) In this research the environmental parameters of temperature, humidity and mm of rain during the experiment should be included.
Author Response
REVIEWER 2
Dear reviewer, thank you very much for your useful comments which have aid to improve our original manuscript. Below you can find an itemed list of your comments and suggestions and the answer and modification performed in the revised manuscript according to your suggestions. The new information added to the revised manuscript has been highlighted in red ink.
- Materials and methods: the description of sensorial analysis is missing.
Answer: This section has been changed in the revised manuscript and the description of the sensorial analysis has been improved as follow (Lines 115-131):
A descriptive sensory analysis was performed with a trained panel. Ten panelists, five men and five women, from the Agri-Food Technology department of the University Miguel Hernández of Elche (Orihuela, Alicante, Spain) were selected to evaluate fruit quality of degreening treated and non-treated lemons after 28 days of cold storage. Panelists received two preliminary 60 min orientation sessions in order to discuss the main sensory parameters demanded by consumers. The following attributes were evaluated: calyx abscission, oleocellosis, turgor, lemon aroma, overall aroma (detecting fruit senescence), skin oiliness, roughness, colour and fruit decay. Overall liking is related to the satisfaction level of panelists after considering all the previous parameters. The study was conducted in a standardise tasting room of the UMH (°C and % relative humidity) with 15 normalized sensory cabins. Thirty lemon samples per treatment were randomly selected to evaluate individually the sensory attributes selected at room temperature according to Habibi et al. [24]. A 10-points scale was used for each attribute analyzed, where 0 represented no perceptible intensity and 10 extremely strong intensity. This scale is widely used by Spanish panelists, evaluating a broad range of sensory attributes. An evaluation session (1 h) was carried out where each panelist described the appearance and odour attributes in all samples.
- Figures: insert letters to highlight significant differences between treated and untreated.
Answer: Significant differences has been highlighted with asterisks and LSD valour has been suppressed in the Figures 2 and 5, lines 236-241 and 282-287, respectively. In this sense it has been modified the figure description as follows:
Asterisks (*) show significant differences between treated and non-treated fruits at p < 0.05.
- Clarify the degreening process as a natural effect of senescence or a treatment performed on the plant or on fruits? Clarify well on materials and methods.
Answer: This paragraph has been changed in the revised manuscript as follow (lines 103-113)
The first harvest date was established according to commercial practices on the 9th September, when lemon fruits showed green colour and were around 55 mm in diameter. The first harvest represented around 25 % of the total yield per tree. Lemon fruits were transferred within 2 hours and degreening treated in a chamber at 25 °C and a relative humidity (RH) of 90-95 % for 8 days. The second harvest date was performed on the 9th December, when lemon fruits showed an optimal commercial ripening stage in terms of fruit size and colour, although the degreening treatment was not applied. Then, five lots of 10 fruits without any physical damage and homogeneous in size and colour were selected for each of the three replicates and stored at 10 ⁰C and 85-90 % RH. After 0, 7, 14, 21 and 28 days of storage, one lot of 10 lemon fruits for each replicate was taken randomly for analytical determinations.If you have researched the effects of degreening on the chemical-physical and sensory analisys, I believe it is necessary to speak in the text and in the figures not of a treatment but of 1 and 2 harvests.
- In this research the environmental parameters of temperature, humidity and mm of rain during the experiment should be included.
Answer: Added in the revised manuscript as follow (line 86-90):
This study was performed in a commercial orchard located in Cartagena (Murcia, Spain) under organic certification. Meteorological conditions showed a mean temperature and relative humidity of 18 °C and 73 %, respectively, while the rainfall was 47.6 mm per day during the 2019-2020 growing season. 'Fino' lemon cultivar grafted on an 8 to 10 year old Citrus macrophylla rootstock was the combination selected for this experiment.
English used in the manuscript has been revised and adapted by a non-native consultor according the suggestions of the Academic Editor and reviewers.
Author Response File: Author Response.docx
