Abstract
As a key economic tree in southern China, Camellia oleifera faces severe yield losses under drought. Grafting onto drought-tolerant rootstocks offers a potential mitigation strategy. To elucidate the impact of rootstocks on the drought resistance of the superior Camellia oleifera Abel. cultivar "Xianglin 210", grafted seedlings with five scion-rootstock combinations, were subjected to gradient drought stress. Key physiological and biochemical indices related to photosynthesis, antioxidant enzymes, and osmotic adjustment were measured. Drought resistance was comprehensively evaluated using membership function analysis, and the expression of stress-responsive genes was quantified via quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR). The results demonstrated that under drought stress, (1) stomatal conductance (Gs) decreased by 31.2-48.7%, while instantaneous water use efficiency (WUE) increased by 18.5-35.4%; (2) proline (Pro) and soluble sugars (SS) accumulated significantly, with increases of 2.3-4.1-fold and 1.8-3.2-fold, respectively; (3) activities of antioxidant enzymes were enhanced by 56-127%, mitigating oxidative damage; (4) membership function analysis ranked drought resistance as follows: Xianglin 27 (0.812) > Guangxi Superior Germplasm (0.698) > C. yuhsienensis (0.654) > Hunan Superior Germplasm (0.591) > Xianglin 1 (0.523); (5) qRT-PCR revealed significant upregulation of ABA signaling pathway genes (CoPYL6, CoPP2C75/51/24/26, CoSnRK2.8, and CoABI5) and transcription factors (CoLHY and CoWRKY70), indicating activation of drought-responsive regulatory networks. These findings provide a theoretical foundation for selecting drought-tolerant rootstocks and optimizing cultivation practices in Camellia oleifera, and provide practical criteria for selecting drought-tolerant rootstocks, facilitating sustainable Camellia oleifera cultivation in water-limited regions.