Evaluation and Index Selection for Salt Tolerance of Maize at Germination and Seedling Stages Based on Principal Component Analysis and Membership Function Analysis
Wang Xin
Chu Wenxuan
Jin Xiaotong
Wang Xiaodong
Liu Tianyang
Wu Ruigang
Dong Hongtu
Abstract：To deeply investigate the salt tolerance characteristics of maize,analyze the response of differ-ent maize varieties to salt concentration,and screen out a simpler and representative salt tolerance evaluation method,six maize varieties were treated with different concentrations of NaCl(0,100,150 and 200 mmol/L)in this study.The changes in germination,and plant morphology,leaf chlorophyll content and conductivity of maize seedlings were determined,and the salt tolerance of maize varieties were comprehensively evaluated u-sing principal component analysis,weighted subordinate function analysis and correlation analysis.The results showed that the growth and physiological indexes of maize gradually increased with the increase of NaCl con-centration.There were significant differences in the response of different maize varieties to salt stress,and 150 mmol/L NaCl was identified as the most suitable stress concentration for salt tolerance identification.The re-sults of principal component analysis showed that germination potential,root length,root surface area and number of root tips could be used as the main indicators for identifying the salt tolerance of maize at seedling stage.Based on the comprehensive evaluation D value obtained by subordinate function method,it was found that ZD958 showed better salt tolerance at different salt concentrations.The results of this study could provide the reference and basis for salt-tolerant maize germplasm and variety selection in the future.
Keywords：MaizeGermination stageSeedling stageSalt toleranceComprehensive evaluation
Publication Date：2026-02-28
Online Publishing Date：2026-05-22(First online date of this platform, not the publication date of the document)
Pages：10( 50-59 )