Extreme environmental conditions are among the factors most frequently responsible for serious reduction in crop yield. Various abiotic stresses threaten wheat production worldwide and drought in particular is especially harmful when occurring at early vegetation phases. Four wheat varieties were compared with respect to their drought tolerance by withholding water in soil pot experiments and their ability to recover after re-watering was assessed based on changes in physiological and biochemical parameters. Drought caused significant decrease in leaf water content, increased the accumulation of hydrogen peroxide, malondialdehyde, free proline, and enhanced electrolyte leakage from cellular membranes. Water deprivation provoked oxidative stress which activated plants’ antioxidant defense system. The intensity of stress perception differed among the four wheat genotypes and they displayed diverse strategies for overcoming the imposed stress. While drought-resistant varieties responded to the stress via enhanced activity of ROS detoxifying enzymes, drought-sensitive genotypes employed coping mechanism involving accumulation of non-enzymatic components of the antioxidant defense system which were useful during the recovery process.

极端环境条件是导致作物产量严重下降的最常见因素之一。各种非生物胁迫威胁着全世界的小麦生产，尤其是在早期植被阶段发生的干旱尤其有害。通过在土壤盆栽试验中扣水，比较了四种小麦品种的耐旱性，并根据生理和生化参数的变化评估了再浇水后的恢复能力。干旱导致叶片含水量显着下降，增加了过氧化氢、丙二醛、游离脯氨酸的积累，并增加了细胞膜的电解质泄漏。缺水会引起氧化应激，从而激活植物的抗氧化防御系统。四种小麦基因型的应激感知强度不同，它们显示出克服施加的应激的不同策略。虽然抗旱品种通过增强 ROS 解毒酶的活性来应对胁迫，但干旱敏感基因型采用的应对机制涉及抗氧化防御系统的非酶成分的积累，这些成分在恢复过程中是有用的。