Effects of Water Stress on Reactive Oxygen Species Generation and Protection System in Rice During Grain-Filling Stage

Rice is one of the main staple food crops in the world, but it may suffer serious water stress during growth period. Water stress during grain filling results in decreased grain yeild, but its mechanism generating and scavenging the active oxygen is unclear under continuance of the water stress. The experiment was carried out in growth chamber to investigate the effects of water stress on the production of superoxide free radical (Ov), hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), malondialdehyde (MDA), reduced glutathione (GSH), ascorbic acid (AsA), and antioxidative enzyme activities in three rice hybrids with differing drought resistant under both normal and drought conditions during grain-filling stage. The results showed that water stress aggravated the membrane lipid peroxidation in rice leaves, which was more severe in less drought resistant hybrids than that in more tolerant ones. Also O2T and H2O2 accumulated more rapidly in less drought resistant hybrids than that in more tolerant ones. During water stress, decreases of GSH, AsA, chlorophyll, and relative water contents in more drought resistant hybrids were obvious less than those in less tolerant ones. Activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT) and peroxidase (POD) in leaves increased obviously in 0-14 d after heading and subsequently decreased rapidly, and those in more drought resistant hybrids were more than those in less tolerant ones. The results showed that changes of O2T, H2O2, MDA, GSH, and AsA contents and antioxidative enzyme activities correlated significantly to drought resistance of rice hybrids, and more drought resistant hybrids possessed high ant oxidation capacity.