Physiological and Biochemical Characters of Eight Native Tree Seedings in Guangdong Province During Drought Stress and Rewatering Treatment

作者：Qiutong Liu, Zhihong Liu, Jingquan Liu, Kexin Li, Jieyu Lin, Shufan Lin, Zijia Su, Xinyi Fan, Yv Su, Zujing Chen · 发表于：Plants · 年份：2026 · DOI：10.3390/plants15040528 · 被引用次数：1 · 研究领域：Plant Stress Responses and Tolerance、Plant responses to water stress、Seedling growth and survival studies

Native tree species play a crucial role in addressing the challenge of seasonal drought in South China. In this study, one-year-old seedlings of eight native tree species in Guangdong Province were subjected to continuous simulated drought stress and rewatering. In order to identify key drought-resistant traits and best performing tree species, physiological and biochemical responses were assessed through 21 indicators. The results showed the following: (1) All species exhibited responses to drought stress prior to the fourth day, as evidenced by reductions in morphological indicators (crown breadth and ground diameter) and photosynthetic parameters (chlorophyll content, transpiration rate, net photosynthetic rate and stomatal conductance), along with increases in osmotic substances (soluble protein and proline) and antioxidant-related indicators malondialdehyde, peroxidase and superoxide dismutase). (2) The crown breadth, leaf relative water content, chlorophyll content, and ascorbate peroxidase activity were significantly decreased under drought stress. And these indicators were not recovered to pre-stress levels following rewatering. (3) Mantel tests revealed that growth morphological characteristics, particularly plant height, were significantly and positively correlated with most osmotic substances indicators (p < 0.001). Specifically, plant height showed the strongest coupling with these traits, with Mantel’s r ranging from 0.44 to 0.89. In addition, the leaf relativ...