MdRFNR1 RNAi plants are sensitive to drought treatment. A, Morphology of MdRFNR1 RNAi and GL-3 plants under control and drought conditions. Water was withheld from 3-month-old plants for 10 days, followed by recovery for 7 days. B–D, Contents of NADP+ (B), NADPH (C), and the NADP+/NADPH ratio (D) of GL-3 and MdRFNR1 RNAi transgenic plants under control and drought treatment. E, The survival rates of plants shown in (A). F–K, Leaf ion leakage (F), MDA contents (G), H2O2 contents (H), POD (I) and CAT (J) activities, and DAB staining (K) of GL-3 and MdRFNR RNAi transgenic plants under control and drought treatment. Error bars indicate sd, n = 3 in (B, C, D, G, H, and I), n = 36 in (E, 36 plants were used and divided into three biological replications), and n = 8 in (F and J). Asterisks indicate significant differences between the transgenic lines and GL-3 plants in each group (control and drought treatment). One-way ANOVA (Tukey’s test) was performed and statistically significant differences are indicated by *P ≤ 0.05, **P ≤ 0.01, or ***P ≤ 0.001.