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Abstract The response of plants to drought stress is a complex phenomon and resulted in various changes in their morphological features, physiological processes and metabolic reactions (Xu et al., 2010; Atifriaz et al., 2013). Morphologically the reduction of growth is a typical symptom of drought injury (Hussain et al., 2008; Rahbatian et al, 2011).This reduction is consequence of several physiological responses including a marked modification of water status, ionic balance, photosynthetic efficiency, respiration capacity, carbon and nutrient allocation and utilization (Noctor et al., 2000; Farooq et al., 2009; Yang and Miao, 2010). Moreover, the changes of metabolic reaction resulted in generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) causing the oxidative damage of plant tissues (Mittler, 2002; Apel and Hirt, 2004). The induction of enzymatic antioxidants such as superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase, (CAT) and ascorbate peroxidase (APx) as well as non enzymatic antioxidants e.g. ascorbic acid AsA), glutathione (GSH) and phenolics can protect the plant tissues from these oxidative species (Ksouri et al., 2007; Devi et al., 2011; Haghighil et al., 2012). |