Effect of short-term water deficit stress on antioxidative systems in cucumber seedling roots

BACKGROUND: Cucumber is one of the most popular vegetables, and have little tolerance for water stress. The antioxidant defense system is one of major drought defense and adaptive mechanisms in plants, however, relatively few data are available regarding antioxidant systems in responses of cucumber to water deficit. The effect of short-term drought stress on the antioxidant system, lipid peroxidation and water content in cucumber seedlings roots was investigated. RESULTS: The results showed that polyethylene glycol (PEG) induced water stress markedly decreased water content of cucumber seedling roots after treatment of 36 h, and caused excessive generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) including superoxide (O(2)(.−)), hydrogen peroxide (H(2)O(2)). Meanwhile, malondialdehyde (MDA) content increased. Antioxidant enzymes including superoxide dismutases (SOD), peroxidases (POD), catalase (CAT) and ascorbate peroxidase (APX) activities increased in different time and different extent under water stress, while ascorbate (AsA) and glutathione (GSH) content, glutathione reductase (GR), dehydroascorbate reductase (DHAR) and monodehydroascorbate reductase (MDHAR) activities all decreased when compared to control. CONCLUSIONS: Therefore, it can be concluded that water stress strongly disrupted the normal metabolism of roots and restrained water absorption, and seemingly enzymatic system played more important roles in protecting cucumber seedling roots against oxidative damage than non-enzymatic system in short-term water deficit stress. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s40529-014-0046-6) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.