Physiological and Antioxidant Enzymes Responses of Two Fig Cultivars under Drought Stress

In order to evaluate the influence of drought stress on two fig cultivars (‘Siah’ and ‘Sabz’), uniform rooted cuttings of both cultivars were potted in 7 L pots filled with soil mixture. The treatments consisted of 4 drought intervals of 4, 8, 12 and 16 days were applied to attain osmotic potentials of -0.6, -1.15, -1.5 and -1.75 bars, respectively. The results showed, in both cultivars, relative water content (RWC), leaf chlorophyll, protein and starch concentrations decreased with increasing the drought stress. In contrast, total soluble solid (TSS) and proline contents, and also the antioxidant enzyme activities increased. However, ‘Siah’ showed better leaf recovery and higher activity of superoxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase (CAT) enzymes and proline content than ‘Sabz’, indicating ‘Siah’ was a more drought tolerant in comparison with ‘Sabz’.