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Acta Prataculturae Sinica ›› 2017, Vol. 26 ›› Issue (10): 87-98.DOI: 10.11686/cyxb2016502

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Effects of drought stress on the physiological characteristics of new lines of Festuca arundinacea induced by spaceflight and their comprehensive evaluation

LI Juan, LEI Xia, WANG Xiao-Li, MOU Qiong, YANG Chun-Yan, WU Jia-Hai*   

  1. Prataculture Institute of Guizhou academy of Agricultural Sciences, Guiyang 550006, China
  • Received:2016-12-28 Online:2017-10-20 Published:2017-10-20

Abstract: In this study, the ecophysiological characteristics of 14 lines of Festuca arundinacea, including some induced by spaceflight, were studied in a pot experiment. The plants were subjected to drought stress conditions, and physiological and biochemical indices including soluble protein content, chlorophyll (Chl) content, and the activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD), peroxidase (POD), and catalase (CAT) activity were determined. These indexes of the 14 F. arundinacea were used to quantitatively evaluate their drought tolerance. The soluble protein content and Chl content increased, and the activities of SOD, POD, and CAT decreased under drought conditions. The drought resistance of the 14 F. arundinacea lines was calculated using the subordinate function, and the lines were ranked, from most drought tolerant to least drought tolerant, as follows: SP5-32>SP5-75>F. arundinacea cv. Shuicheng>SP5-60>SP5-94>SP5-97>SP5-89>SP5-71>SP5-7>SP5-85>SP5-42>SP5-5>F. arundinacea cv. Qiancao No.1>SP5-88. The average subordinate function of SP5-32, the most drought tolerant line, was 0.533. A grey correlative analysis was conducted to determine which indices were most strongly related to drought resistance. The indices were ranked, from strongest correlation with drought resistance to weakest, as follows: POD activity>soluble protein content>SOD activity>catalase activity>Chl content (correlation coefficients, 0.55-0.65). Therefore, SP5-32 is more suitable for cultivation in drought-affected areas as its antioxidant enzyme activity, soluble protein content, and chlorophyll content are unaffected by drought stress.