Arid Zone Research ›› 2022, Vol. 39 ›› Issue (3): 978-985.doi: 10.13866/j.azr.2022.03.31

Previous Articles     Next Articles

Comprehensive evaluation of drought tolerance of six forage species at the seedling stage

TIAN Xiaoxia1(),WEI Xiaofeng2,WEI Hao3(),XU Mingshuang1,MAO Peichun1()   

  1. 1. Institute of Grassland, Flowers and Ecology, Beijing Academy of Agriculture and Forestry Sciences, Beijing 100097, China
    2. Sino-Zijin Resources Co. Ltd., Beijing 100012, China
    3. Hebei Center for Ecological and Environmental Geology Research, Hebei GEO University, Shijiazhuang 050031, Hebei, China
  • Received:2021-11-11 Revised:2022-03-18 Online:2022-05-15 Published:2022-05-30
  • Contact: Hao WEI,Peichun MAO E-mail:tianxi8002@126.com;mmpch@163.com

Abstract:

Artificial grassland can be planted in arid and semi-arid areas to screen forage species with strong drought resistance at the seedling stage. A water controlling experiment was conducted to determine the effect of drought stress on six forage species by adopting the pot culture method. The plant height (PH), shoot dry weight, root dry weight (RDW), root-shoot ratio (RSR), relative water content (RWC), proline content (Pro), soluble protein content (SP), antioxidant enzyme activity, and other indices of six materials were measured. Based on the drought resistance coefficient of each individual index, correlation analysis, principal component analysis, and subordinate function analysis were performed to comprehensively evaluate the drought resistance of six forage species. Result showed that drought stress had significant effects on the growth and physiological indices of six test materials. Correlation analysis showed that 12 indices such as PH, growth rate, and RDW were positively correlated with one another, but a negative correlation was observed between the 12 indices and malondialdehyde content. Principal component analysis showed that the contribution rate of four principal components could reach 98.40%, which could represent most of the data information of six test materials. The drought resistance (D value) of six test materials was comprehensively evaluated using a subordinate function method and weight coefficients, and the drought resistance ability of test materials was presented in the following order: Elytrigia elongatum > Elymus dahuricus > Astragalus adsurgens > Bromus inermis > Medicago sativa > Agropyron cristatum. Moreover, the D value was found to be significantly and positively correlated with PH (0.984**), RDW (0.948**), free proline content (0.971**), and soluble protein content, indicating that it can be used as a good indicator for screening drought tolerance of similar materials at the seedling stage.

Key words: forage, drought stress, drought tolerance, comprehensive evaluation