Abstract:Three-year-old ‘Zaozhong No. 6’ loquat (Eriobotrya japonica Lindl.) seed lings were foliar-sprayed with 02, 05, 10 and 15 mmol·L-1 o f sodium nitroprusside (SNP), subjected to low temperature (-3 ℃) stress for 6 hours, and then cultured at 25 ℃ for four days. The antioxidant metabolites and enzymes in the seedling leaves were determined 0, 1, and 4 days after recovery. Comparing with the control (water spraying), all SNP treatments had a decreased H2O2 content but an increased content of glutathione (GSH) and ascorbic aci d (AsA) and increased activity of ascorbate peroxidase (APX), glutathione reduct ase (GR), dehydroascorbate reductase (DHAR) and monodehydroascorbate reductase ( MDAR) in the seedling leaves. Four days after recovery, the H2O2 content in the seedling leaves treated with 05 mmol·L-1 of SNP decreased by 7553 %, while the GSH and AsA contents and the APX, GR, DHAR and MDAR activities were increased by 2912%, 2340%, 500%, 444%, 4953%, and 6268%, respectivel y. All of these suggested that appropriate dosage of exogenous NO could enhance the activity of antioxidant system in loquat leaves and alleviated the cell inju ry of loquat leaves under low temperature stress. In this study, the appropriate dosage of NO was 05 mmol·L-1 of SNP.