Screening salt-tolerant rice genotypes is important to develop salt-tolerant high-yielding cultivars. To categorize salt-tolerant genotypes, we used a comprehensive collection of morpho-physiological parameters, yield-contributing characteristics, and molecular and biochemical markers with multivariate analysis in this study. A total of 20 rice genotypes were screened at seedling stages in a hydroponic system at three different salinity levels (8, 10, and 12 dS m⁻¹). Furthermore, at the reproductive stage, 12 genotypes were evaluated at 4 and 6 dS m⁻¹ salinity conditions. The seedlings growth of the most rice genotypes were severely reduced by salinity stress, however, some genotypes (M-12, M-20, IR-10, IR-8, and M-19) showed the lowest growth reduction. Total salt stress response index revealed that the genotypes M-12 was the most salt-tolerant. Though the genotype M-12 acquired the highest position in seedling stage screening but unfortunately failed to show sufficient yield potential at reproductive stage, in which M-19 was qualified with highest yield response. Therefore, only seedling stage screening may provide misleading results. M-19 also showed the highest antioxidant activity with lower Na⁺/ K⁺ ratio, hydrogen peroxide, and malondialdehyde content, indicating a strong defense mechanism against salt-induced oxidative and osmotic stress. Overall, M-19 was selected as the most appropriate candidate genotypes for salinity tolerance. The accuracy and reliability of these methods were superbly assured by principal component analysis and seedling stage molecular assay. Therefore, the identified salt-tolerant genotypes could be further utilized as a source of appropriate donor parents in breeding of salt-tolerant high-yielding rice varieties.

筛选耐盐水稻基因型对于培育耐盐高产品种具有重要意义。为了对耐盐基因型进行分类，我们在本研究中使用了形态生理参数、产量贡献特征以及分子和生化标记的综合集合，并进行了多变量分析。在水培系统的幼苗阶段，在三种不同的盐度水平（8、10 和 12 dS m ^-1）下筛选了总共 20 个水稻基因型。此外，在生殖阶段，在 4 和 6 dS m ^-1盐度条件下评估了 12 种基因型。大多数水稻基因型的幼苗生长受到盐分胁迫的严重影响，然而，一些基因型（M-12、M-20、IR-10、IR-8和M-19) 显示出最低的增长减少。总盐胁迫响应指数显示，基因型M-12最耐盐。虽然基因型M-12在苗期筛选中获得了最高位置，但遗憾的是未能在繁殖期表现出足够的产量潜力，其中M-19具有最高的产量反应。因此，只有幼苗期筛选可能会提供误导性结果。M-19还表现出最高的抗氧化活性，具有较低的 Na ⁺ / K ⁺比、过氧化氢和丙二醛含量，表明其具有很强的抵御盐诱导的氧化和渗透压力的防御机制。总的来说，M-19被选为耐盐性最合适的候选基因型。这些方法的准确性和可靠性通过主成分分析和苗期分子分析得到了很好的保证。因此，鉴定出的耐盐基因型可进一步作为耐盐高产水稻品种选育的合适供体亲本的来源。