Effects of Drought Stress on Antioxidant Enzymes Activity in Triticale Lines

Triticale as a man-made cereal is well known for having tolerance to environmental stresses and thus recommended for planting in marginal lands. This experiment was conducted to evaluate the antioxidant enzyme activity of 18 triticale lines comprising 9 doubled haploid (DH) and 9 corresponding advanced lines (F7) and two bread wheat cultivars (Rowshan and kavir) in research farm and laboratory of Agricultural College of Isfahan university of technology during growing season of 2008-2009 under normal and stress conditions. Both the experimental design was equally and simultaneously irrigated until the mid-jointing stage, then irrigation was performed by evaporation from class A evaporation pan. The highest accumulation and antioxidant activities was obtained under stressed condition. The orthogonal comparisons showed that triticale lines and wheat cultivars differed significantly for yield and antioxidant activity with triticale being significantly superior than wheat cultivars under both environmental conditions. Free proline content during water stress condition was increased. As a general conclusion, DH line number 4 by having high proline content and low grain yield reduction under drought stress was ranked as superior drought tolerant genotype.