On Drought-resistance Physiology of Sabina vulgaris

The physiological property of drought resistance of Sabina vulgaris seedlings planted in pot experiment was studied with two comparative methods, i.e., water controlling and PEG osmotic stressing, by means of measuring a series of indexes including water holding capacity, relative water content, relative water deficit, relative electrical conductiveitv, contents of chlorophy ll, MDA as well as the photosynthetic rate.It was showed by the experiments thaa the photosynthetic rate was not significantly reduced when there was no irrigation applied for 20 days, and when the water content in the soil dropped to 7.89%.The relative water content, contents of chlorophyll and free water in leaves of Sabina vulgaris seedlings dropped while the relative water deficit, relative electrical conductivity, MDA content and bound water content increased under moderate osmotic stress conditions.Under the condition of serious omsmotic stress, there were greater changes to the above physiological indices.It was induced from the experiments that Sabina vulgaris was a drought resistant species with high water holding capacity and high bound water content in the leaves of the seedlings.