Role of abscisic acid and drought stress on the activities of antioxidant enzymes in wheat

The effect of drought stress and abscisic acid (ABA) applied at tillering stage (55 days after sowing) was compared in 2 wheat cultivars differing in drought tolerance. The activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD) and peroxidase (POD) and contents of endogenous ABA in plants were measured at 3 days of drought stress in cv. Chakwal-97 (drought tolerant) and cv. Punjab-96 (drought susceptible). ABA was applied at 10(-6) mol/L as presowing seed treatment for 18 h. Drought tolerant cultivar has a more efficient mechanism to scavenge reactive oxygen species as shown by a significant increase in the activity of antioxidant enzyme SOD. Under drought stress, ABA significantly increased the activities of SOD and POD, showing a significant decline on rewatering. The relative water content was significantly increased by ABA priming under drought stress in both wheat cultivars. The sensitive cultivar exhibiting lower endogenous ABA content was more responsive to ABA priming. On rewatering, the magnitude of recovery from drought stress was greater in tolerant cultivar. ABA was highly effective in improving grain weight of tolerant cultivar under drought stress.