A field experiment was performed to investigate the growth performance and the growth stage-dependent changes in activities of antioxidative enzymes and concentration of malondialdehyde (MDA) in leaves of rice subjected to treatment with (NF-M) or without straw mulching (NF-WM) under non-flooded conditions compared with continuously flooded treatment (CF). Compared with the NF-WM treatment, mulch application significantly increased the flag leaf area per plant before heading, tillers number and plant height at the early period of tillering stage. There was no significant difference between the yield of the NF-WM and CF treatment. However, the yield of NF-WM treatment was significantly lower than CF and NF-M treatments. Significantly higher activities of peroxidase (POD) and catalase (CAT) but lower concentration of superoxide dismutase (SOD) and malondialdehyde (MDA) were observed in straw mulching treatment than in treatment without mulching at elongation, heading and grain filling stages. The change tendency of antioxidant enzyme activity and MDA level was in line both with soil moisture status and rice yields of different treatments.