Differential Antioxidant Mechanisms of Rice Plants in Response to Oxyfluorfen and Paraquat

Abstract

The mechanisms of resistance to oxyfluorfen (OF) and paraquat (PQ) were investigated in rice plants. Examination of the concentration dependence of oxyfluorfen-or paraquat-induced increase in conductivity showed that conductivities in the OF-and PQ-treated leaf squares were increased with 0.1 µM oxyfluorfen and 0.01 µM paraquat and further increased with higher concentrations. The levels of conductivity were approximately 10-times higher in the PQ-treated plants than in the OF-treated plants, indicating that the PQ-treated plants suffered more severe photodynamic damage than the OF-treated plants. The photooxidative stress caused by foliar application of either 50 µM oxyfluorfen or 100 µM paraquat increased the enzyme activities of ascorbate peroxidase and peroxidase 1 day after the herbicide treatments and then further increased their enzyme activities 2 days after the treatments. The activities of catalase began to increase 2 days after the oxyfluorfen and paraquat treatments. These antioxidant enzymes appear to play an essential part of defense mechanisms against oxyfluorfen and paraquat. Our results demonstrate that paraquat caused more severe oxidative stress, as indicated by a greater change in conductivity, thereby resulting in greater increases in antioxidant responses in plants, compared with those of oxyfluorfen.