Abstract:To evaluate the tolerance of different maize materials to salt stress during the germination period and to explore the salt talerance of hybrid maize materials from different hybridization patterns during the germination stage. This study used a 160 mmol/L NaCl solution to treat 152 maize inbred lines and 303 hybrid varieties under salt stress. Distilled water culture was used as the control, and salt tolerance during germination was identified using a paper bed culture method in a culture dish. The results showed that salt stress treatment significantly reduced the germination potential, germination rate, and germination index of maize materials. Trait correlation analysis revealed a highly significant positive correlation between different traits. Using the salt tolerance rate during the germination period and combining with the clustering analysis results, the inbred and hybrid materials were divided into five salt tolerance levels: Level I (high tolerance, 4 inbred lines, 17 hybrids), Level II (tolerance, 19 inbred lines, 58 hybrids), Level III (moderate tolerance, 47 inbred lines, 120 hybrids), Level IV (sensitive, 33 inbred lines, 71 hybrids), and Level V (high sensitivity, 49 inbred lines, 37 hybrids). Based on the analysis of identity-by-descent (IBD) segments, 146 inbred line materials were divided into 8 groups. The salt tolerance of different groups of inbred line materials was as follows: European maternal group>Complex group>Inbred line 330 group>PB group>Lancaster group>Tangsipingtou group>PA group>Reid group. The hybrid materials are divided into 23 hybridization patterns based on the different parent material groups, among which European maternal group×PB group is the optimal heterosis pattern for salt stress tolerance during germination. This study identified the salt tolerance of inbred lines and hybrid materials, and selected 4 high salt tolerant inbred line materials and 17 high salt tolerant hybrid materials.