Study on compensatory effects of two differential genotypic maize in water stress and re-watering during Filling stage

Our objective was to investigate the compensatory effects of water stress and re-watering on varieties, yield and water use efficiency (WUE) in winter wheat cultivars `Zhengdan 958´ (drought resistant) and `Hudan 4´ (drought sensitive) under the shield of the rain during Filling stage. The results indicated that, the physiological indexes (SPAD, Photosynthetic rate, Transpiration rate) slowed down under different water stress time (six days or twelve days) The results indicated that, the physiological indexes of the water resistant cultivar `Zhengdan 958´ could compensate rapidly after re-watering. Compensatory effects or even extra compensatory effects could happen after transitory (six days) water stress and re-watering. For drought sensitive cultivars `Hudan 4´, the physiological indexes (SPAD, Photosynthetic rate, Transpiration rate) slowed down higher than `Zhengdan 958´ under different water stress time. Compensatory effects of `Hudan 4´ was lower than `Zhengdan 958´ after re-watering. For drought sensitive cultivars `Hudan 4´, the effects of water stress levels and stress time on water consumption, yield and WUE were great. Yield is not notable for `Zhengdan 958´ under six days water stress and WUE was higher than that of CK after re-watering. From the compensatory effects of water stress and re-watering, drought resistant cultivars “Zhengdan 958” was under transitory water stress during Filling stage, which is beneficial to yield WUE increased.