Salinity poses a significant challenge to global wheat production. The screening of wheat cultivars for salt tolerance is essential for developing new varieties resilient to salinity and advancing breeding strategies. Identifying key traits from a myriad of morphological, physiological, and molecular markers in screening studies can enhance selection efficiency and expedite the process. In this study, 16 common wheat cultivars were subjected to 0 and 150 mM NaCl stress for ten days during the seedling stage. To assess the salinity tolerance of wheat cultivars comprehensively, we employed a diverse array of morpho-physiological, biochemical, and molecular markers, coupled with multivariate analysis. Salt stress resulted in reduced germination and seedling growth across most wheat cultivars. Notably, the ‘Ikizce-96’ and ‘Demir-2000’ genotypes exhibited a higher salinity tolerance index, with the least reduction in morpho-physiological parameters. These cultivars demonstrated elevated osmoregulator proline content and enhanced activity of reactive oxygen species-scavenging antioxidant enzymes. Under 150 mM NaCl, tolerant cultivars exhibited up-regulated transcript expression levels of TaHKT1;4, TaP5CS, and TaDHN marker genes compared to salt-sensitive cultivars. The accuracy of our findings was validated through principal component analysis, hierarchical clustering analysis, and a correlation network. Proline content, glutathione reductase, catalase, and superoxide dismutase activity emerged as the most reliable indicators of salt tolerance in wheat under saline conditions. The identified salt-tolerant cultivars hold promise as donor parents in salinity tolerance breeding programs.

盐度对全球小麦生产构成重大挑战。筛选耐盐小麦品种对于开发耐盐新品种和推进育种策略至关重要。在筛选研究中从大量形态学、生理学和分子标记中识别关键性状可以提高选择效率并加快过程。在本研究中，16 个常见小麦品种在苗期受到 0 和 150 mM 氯化钠胁迫 10 天。为了全面评估小麦品种的耐盐性，我们采用了多种形态生理、生化和分子标记，并结合多变量分析。盐胁迫导致大多数小麦品种的发芽和幼苗生长减少。值得注意的是，“Ikizce-96”和“Demir-2000”基因型表现出较高的耐盐指数，形态生理参数的降低最少。这些品种表现出渗透调节脯氨酸含量升高和活性氧清除抗氧化酶活性增强。在 150 mM NaCl 下，与盐敏感品种相比，耐盐品种表现出TaHKT1;4、TaP5CS和TaDHN标记基因转录表达水平上调。我们的研究结果的准确性通过主成分分析、层次聚类分析和相关网络得到了验证。脯氨酸含量、谷胱甘肽还原酶、过氧化氢酶和超氧化物歧化酶活性成为盐水条件下小麦耐盐性最可靠的指标。已确定的耐盐品种有望成为耐盐育种计划中的供体亲本。