Abstract: Physiological characteristics of rootstock Maotao and new peach cultivar Dongxixiaoxian were investigated under water controlled conditions， so as to reveal the possible mechanisms of Dongxixiaoxian in response to waterlogging stress. The waterlogging resistance capacity of these two peach cultivars were evaluated comprehensively by the content of membrane lipid peroxidation products malondialdehyde （MDA）， superoxide dismutase （SOD） activity， peroxidase （POD） activity and chlorophyll content， root activity， cell membrane permeability， and photosynthesis and chlorophyll fluorescence parameters. The results showed that the root activity， the content of chlorophyll， Yield， ETR， Fv/Fm of two cultivars decreased with the increase of waterlogging days. And the decreases in Dongxixiaoxian were less significantly than in Maotao. Meanwhile， the content of MDA and cell membrane penetrability were increased with the increase of waterlogging days， and the increases in Maotao were more significant than in Dongxixiaoxian. The activities of superoxide dismutase （SOD） and peroxidase （POD） of two cultivars exhibited the pattern of increase firstly then decrease， but two activities in Dongxixiaoxian were more significant than in Maotao. So the waterlogging resistance capacity of Dongxixiaoxian was significantly stronger than that of Maotao.

Key words: peach；waterlogging；photosynthetic characteristics, physiological index