{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,24]],"date-time":"2026-08-24T16:32:55Z","timestamp":1787589175864,"version":"build-2736575974"},"reference-count":36,"publisher":"PeerJ","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,24]],"date-time":"2026-08-24T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1787529600000},"content-version":"unspecified","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nc\/4.0"}],"funder":[{"name":"Shandong Agricultural Elite Variety Project","award":["2024LZGC030"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["2024LZGC030"]}]},{"name":"Special Project of National Modern Agricultural Industry Technology System Construction","award":["CARS-04-CES15"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["CARS-04-CES15"]}]},{"name":"Shandong Provincial Modern Agricultural Industry Technology System","award":["SDAIT-28-13"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["SDAIT-28-13"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":[],"abstract":"\n Background<\/jats:title>\n Global soybean production is constrained by scarce arable land, and standardized evaluation tools remain lacking for natural mixed saline-alkali stress, the predominant abiotic stress under field conditions.<\/jats:p>\n <\/jats:sec>\n \n Objective<\/jats:title>\n \n This study aimed to establish a comprehensive saline-alkali tolerance evaluation system for soybean germplasms\n via<\/jats:italic>\n integrated multivariate statistical methods, and screen core and auxiliary indicators for efficient germplasm identification.\n <\/jats:p>\n <\/jats:sec>\n \n Methods<\/jats:title>\n \n Seventy-one soybean germplasms were tested under 90 mmol\/L mixed saline-alkali stress (NaCl:Na\n 2<\/jats:sub>\n SO\n 4<\/jats:sub>\n :NaHCO\n 3<\/jats:sub>\n :Na\n 2<\/jats:sub>\n CO\n 3<\/jats:sub>\n = 1:9:9:1, pH 8.2) simulating natural saline-alkali soil. We quantified the saline-alkali tolerance coefficients (SATC) of 13 morphological and physiological indicators, followed by coefficient of variation (CV), principal component analysis (PCA), subordinate function, cluster analysis and regression modeling.\n <\/jats:p>\n <\/jats:sec>\n \n Results<\/jats:title>\n \n Significant inter-germplasm variations in saline-alkali tolerance were detected, and indicators with CV > 0.35 (\n e.g<\/jats:italic>\n ., root length (RL), root fresh weight (RFW)) were screened as primary indices. PCA extracted five principal components with 87.18% cumulative variance contribution, and the integrated analytical pipeline categorized germplasms into five tolerance grades: eight highly tolerant, 24 moderately tolerant, 13 generally tolerant, 16 sensitive and 10 highly sensitive accessions. A high-precision prediction model was constructed (\n D<\/jats:italic>\n = 0.290\n X<\/jats:italic>\n 1<\/jats:sub>\n \u2212 0.026\n X<\/jats:italic>\n 2<\/jats:sub>\n + 0.438\n \n X\n 3<\/jats:sub>\n <\/jats:italic>\n + 0.402\n X<\/jats:italic>\n 4<\/jats:sub>\n + 0.180\n X<\/jats:italic>\n 5<\/jats:sub>\n + 0.153\n X<\/jats:italic>\n 6<\/jats:sub>\n + 0.813\n X<\/jats:italic>\n 7<\/jats:sub>\n \u2212 1.123;\n \n R\n 2<\/jats:sup>\n <\/jats:italic>\n = 0.998, where\n X<\/jats:italic>\n 1<\/jats:sub>\n \u2013\n X<\/jats:italic>\n 7<\/jats:sub>\n represent the SATC of germination rate (GR), RL, RFW, total fresh weight (TFW), shoot dry weight (SDW), root dry weight (RDW), and total dry weight (TDW), respectively). A Chi-squared Automatic Interaction Detection (CHAID) decision tree model was further developed and validated using 10-fold cross-validation, yielding a cross-validation risk value of 0.003, which was comparable to the resubstitution risk value (0.002), indicating good generalization ability and low risk of overfitting. A novel five-dimensional overlapping analysis identified RFW as the core evaluation indicator, with RDW, TFW and R\/S as key auxiliary indicators.\n <\/jats:p>\n <\/jats:sec>\n \n Conclusion<\/jats:title>\n This study delivers a standardized, reproducible technical framework for large-scale screening of saline-alkali-tolerant soybean germplasms. It facilitates global saline-alkali land utilization, accelerates worldwide soybean stress-tolerance breeding, and provides a transferable paradigm for stress tolerance evaluation in other major crops.<\/jats:p>\n <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.7717\/peerj.21642","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,24]],"date-time":"2026-08-24T15:58:58Z","timestamp":1787587138000},"page":"e21642","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Evaluation of saline-alkali tolerance in 71 soybean germplasms based on multi-method integrated analysis at the germination 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