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Open Access

ARTICLE

Low-Temperature Stress Effects on Germination, Antioxidant Enzyme Activity, and Gene Expression in Hybrid and Conventional Rice from Southern China

Fen Liu1,2, Cheng Qu1,3,*, Hongliang Yuan3, Xinpeng Xiang3, Yingbo Chen3, Yuxuan Cai3, Yue Wang4,*
1 College of Plant Science and Technology, Hunan Biological Electromechanical Vocational Technical College, Changsha, China
2 College of Agriculture and Horticulture, Huaihua Vocational and Technical College, Huaihua, China
3 College of Agronomy, Hunan Agricultural University, Changsha, China
4 Yuelu Mountain Laboratory of Hunan Province, Hunan Agricultural University, Changsha, China
* Corresponding Author: Cheng Qu. Email: email; Yue Wang. Email: email
(This article belongs to the Special Issue: Plant Responses to Abiotic Stress Mechanisms)

Phyton-International Journal of Experimental Botany https://doi.org/10.32604/phyton.2026.077734

Received 16 December 2025; Accepted 05 February 2026; Published online 13 February 2026

Abstract

To explore the physiological mechanism of rice seeds’ tolerance to cold damage stress, the hybrid rice variety H-You 518 and the conventional rice variety Zhongjiazao 17 were used as experimental materials. A low-temperature cold damage treatment (4°C) and a normal germination treatment (25°C) were used to measure seed vitality, antioxidant enzyme activity, soluble sugar content, soluble protein content, α-amylase activity, endopeptidase, and related gene expression levels. The results showed that low temperature inhibited seed vitality and germination ability, and after restoring normal growth conditions, the activities of POD and CAT, as well as the content of MDA in the seedlings, were significantly increased. Between these two rice varieties, the seed vitality and antioxidant enzyme activity of the Zhongjiazao 17 conventional rice variety were more sensitive to low-temperature stress. During seed germination, both the total soluble sugar and soluble protein levels showed a trend of first decreasing, then increasing, and finally decreasing under low-temperature cold damage. The total soluble sugar content of H-You 518 was higher than that of Zhongjiazao 17. Through correlation analysis, it was found that under low-temperature damage, the activities of α-amylase and endopeptidases were significantly positively correlated with the soluble protein content, with correlation coefficients of 0.55 and 0.61, respectively, indicating that the trends of these changes were basically consistent. During the germination process, the expression levels of the α-AMY and EP genes gradually increased, but low-temperature stress reduced the expression levels of these genes. In summary, low-temperature cold damage conditions reduced the activities of α-amylase and endopeptidases, thereby slowing down the production of soluble sugars and soluble proteins. Moreover, the activities of α-amylase and endopeptidases were regulated by the α-AMY and EP genes. This study provides a reference for the physiological mechanism analysis of rice seed germination in low temperatures and under cold stress.

Keywords

Rice; low temperature; germination characteristics; enzyme activity; gene expression

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