PEG-6000 solutions with different concentrations were used to simulate drought stress.Four treatments were applied:control(CK),light stress (T₁),moderate stress(T₂)and heavy stress(T₃)to investigate the effects of drought stress on photosynthetic pigment and root,stem and leaf growth characteristics ofElaeagnus angustifolia.The results show that root length,plant height,and leaf number of the plants exhibited the effects of increasing stress.In comparison of CK,root length,and plant height of T₂except for leaf numbers were significantly different.In T₃,root length,plant height,leave number,respectively.In T₂,fresh and dry weights of root and stem,except for leaf,indicated influences of draught stress in comparison of CK.Similarly,fresh and dry weights of root, stem,and leaf indicated strongest,moderate and least responses to the stress.Along with the increasing degree of drought stress,the contents of chlorophyll a,contents of chlorophyll b,contents of total chlorophyll,and contents of carotinoid Elaeagnus angustifoliaincreased first and then decreased,however,of the ratios of chlorophyll a/b showed opposite tendency.The response of chlorophyll a to drought stress is more sensitive than chlorophyll b.In comparison of CK,soluble proteins of the roots of T₁were 18.6%higher,but that of T₂and T₃were 13.9% and 29.1% lower,respectively.No significant difference was found between stem soluble proteins of T₁and CK,however,stem soluble protein of T₂and T₃was 17.2%and 41.9% higher than that of CK.T₃is the only treatment which leaf soluble proteins were significantly higher than CK(24.3%).