Applicability evaluation of screen methods to identify salt tolerance in wheat at germination and seedling stages

Salt tolerance identification is the premise of screening germplasm and breeding salt-tolerant wheat varieties. There are many methods for testing salt tolerance of wheat indoor, involving different growth stages and tissues or organs. In order to evaluate the applicability of these methods in production, we selected five salt-tolerant varieties and five salt-sensitive varieties from the Northern Winter Wheat Production Area of China to compare seven identification methods(involving 27 parameters) for the responses to salt stress of wheat at germination and seedling stages. The results showed that the relative salt-injury rate for germination of grains could not distinguish the tolerant-and sensitive-varieties, while the salt-injury index of leaf, the Na+ and K+ fluxes of root, and the relative salt-injury rates for root tip number, root diameter as well as leaf K+ content of seedlings were significantly different between the tolerant-and sensitive-varieties. Based on the results of regressive analysis and op