The freeze-thaw (FT) and drought in early spring in Northeast China are two main ecological stresses to forage grasses. In this paper, Secale cereale L. grown under 2 d drought-stress (mild, moderate, and severe treat) with 5, 10 and 15% polyethylene glycol (PEG-6000) concentrations. The temperature gradient was set to 10, 5, 0, -5, 0, 5 and 10ºC after FT treatment. The content of protein, soluble sugar and MDA increased with a trend of combined stress>FT>drought stress, indicating that the damage of rye under single FT stress was higher than that under the single drought stress. Under drought stress, FT could aggravate the damage to rye. At T7 (10ºC) in the thawing stage, compared with the CK, the pattern of the decrease of RWC and chlorophyll and the increase of protein and MDA content was severe combined stress>FT>moderate combined stress>moderate drought stress. The results of this study showed that a proper drought treatment before FT stress could alleviate the physiological damage to the forage leaf.