PONE-D-24-34295Long-term, Continuous No-Till Corn-Soybean Systems: Examining Soil Carbon Sequestration and Nitrogen Accumulation Across Various PoolsPLOS ONE

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Academic Editor

PLOS ONE

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Additional Editor Comments:

Write the introduction in a cone approach. Highlight the present problem throughout the globe-regional level. How the present approach will overcome the problem with details.

Mention the hypothesis of your study.

Abstract to be re-written as reviewers pointed out.

Check all the captions of figures and tables.

The references for various methods adopted are missing in the methodology section.

The statistical analysis followed in all the tables are not giving a clear picture and should be modified. Depth effects are missing. The interaction table is not properly analyzed.

Results and discussion to be re-written as pointed out be reviewer.

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Reviewers' comments:

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Comments to the Author

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Reviewer #1: Partly

Reviewer #2: Yes

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2. Has the statistical analysis been performed appropriately and rigorously?

Reviewer #1: No

Reviewer #2: Yes

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Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

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Reviewer #1: No

Reviewer #2: Yes

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5. Review Comments to the Author

Please use the space provided to explain your answers to the questions above. You may also include additional comments for the author, including concerns about dual publication, research ethics, or publication ethics. (Please upload your review as an attachment if it exceeds 20,000 characters)

Reviewer #1: Comments to the authors of “Long-term, Continuous No-Till Corn-Soybean Systems: Examining Soil Carbon Sequestration and Nitrogen Accumulation Across Various Pools”. While the topic is interesting, the authors need to take a major revision of the manuscript to significantly increase the readability of the study. Also, the concept of high SOC and total N with medium to long term no-tillage has been comprehensively investigated, the authors should focus on adding the novelty to this study, specifically to the introduction section. Pls consider adding a section on soil N pools as well to the introduction. The current introduction only focuses on soil C. The data analysis section should be revised, and soil depth needs to be accounted for as a repeated variable. Essentially, the statistical model should be a repeated measures repeated by soil depth. Also, the soil depth effects are missing from the tables. The authors have only presented tillage effects and interaction of tillage with depth. But the soil depth differences need to be presented (not the pooled data). The results and discussion section need to be significantly revised and reorganized. Its helpful to merge the discussion of the results along with the presentation of results. Right now, the results are all written at once and then discussed later, which is not helpful. Pls see the attached pdf file for the specific comments.

Reviewer #2: In no till planting, there are less steps and cost involved, thus productivity is higher. The soil does not have to be tilled. Instead, the seeds are planted through the remains of previous crops by planters or drills. in present study, authors concluded from their study that long-term continuous NT practice in a rainfed corn-soybean rotation with cereal rye as a winter cover crop significantly increased soil bacteria, active carbon, POC, passive C, SOC, PON, and total N. It also improved biological efficiency compared to CT. These positive effects were more evident in the surface soil than in the subsurface soil. A higher proportion of passive C compared to active C in SOC suggests an increase in the stable form of SOC under NT. While transitional NT resulted in slightly higher compaction, the soil became more porous under long-term NT at both depths compared to CT. SOC sequestration nd stoichiometric N accumulation in different pools under NT were nonlinear at the surface and showed a linear response at subsurface depth when calculated using both fixed depth and equivalent mass approaches. Overall the paper is written well, however, following need to be addressed.

-there are number of mistakes in english for grammar and spelling.

-Quality of figures is not good.

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Reviewer #1: Yes:  Inderjot Chahal

Reviewer #2: No

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Attachments

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Submitted filename: PONE-D-24-34295 reviewed.pdf

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Submitted filename: PLOS One comments to authors.docx

Long-term, Continuous No-Till Corn-Soybean Systems: Examining Soil Carbon Sequestration and Nitrogen Accumulation Across Various Pools

PONE-D-24-34295R1

Dear Dr. Islam,

We’re pleased to inform you that your manuscript has been judged scientifically suitable for publication and will be formally accepted for publication once it meets all outstanding technical requirements.

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Kind regards,

Sushanta Kumar Naik, PhD

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE

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Reviewers' comments: