[Effects of drought stress and recovery on photosynthesis and physiological characteristics of Hibiscus hamabo]

A greenhouse experiment was conducted to examine the photosynthetic and physiological responses of two-year-old cuttings of Hibiscus hamabo to the drought stress (20 days) and subsequent rewatering (21 days). The results showed that after 20-day drought, all individuals were survived in spite of the 5.9% soil water content. Drought stress drastically reduced net photosynthetic rate of H. hamabo, with the highest value only being 1.1 μmol·m^-2·s^-1. Drought stress declined the maximum photochemical efficiency to 84.3% compared with the control plants. Under drought stress, H. hamabo could stabilize cell osmotic potential and eliminate the drought-caused lipid peroxidation by coordinating the accumulation of soluble protein and antioxidant enzymes. After rewatering for seven days, net photosynthetic rate of treated H. hamabo recovered to 57.3% of that under control treatment. Meanwhile, the activities of superoxide dismutase and catalase decreased with the decline of malondialdehyde content. After rewatering for 21 days, no significant differences in the activities of antioxidant enzymes, soluble protein and relative water were found between the treated and control treatment. At harvest, the total biomass of treated H. hamabo decreased, while the root-shoot ratio remarkably increased when compared with control plants. In short, our results indicated strong drought tolerance of H. hamabo, which could play important roles in landscape improvement and greening in coastal areas.