| Drought stress is one of the most important limiting factors in environment during crop growth. The aim of our study was to illuminate effects of sodium nitroprusside (SNP) on drought-resistance of potted potatoes cv. Atlantic and Desire under different water deficits. After SNP spray at buds followed by circulation of dehydration and rehydration, water contents of leaves, yield and tuber quality were studied. The results showed that SNP treatment increased water content of leaves, as well as sucrose and starch contents of tubers in Atlantic under different water deficits. The same results were observed in water content of leaves and sucrose content of tubers in Desirèe. Meanwhile, the yield of Atlantic and Desire were raised by 19.89% and 20.56% by SNP treatment under severe water deficit. Further analysis found that correlation coefficient between water content of leaves and yield in Atlantic was 0.9266. Yield of Atlantic had negative correlations with sucrose content (-0.8450) and starch content (-0.8623) of tubers, respectively. Correlation coefficient between water content of leaves and yield was 0.8908 in Desirèe. All together, these results suggested that SNP treatment might have important benefits in potato production under water deficits. |