Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) quality is a major focus of wheat breeding, which is influenced by multiple factors. The Huang-Huai wheat region, one of the main wheat-producing areas in China, provides favourable conditions for cultivating wheat cultivars with strong-gluten and medium-strong-gluten. In this study, a systematic assessment of seven crucial quality traits and important genetic loci (Glu-1 and Sec-1) in 436 wheat cultivars in the Huang-Huai wheat region of China by principal component analysis (PCA) and fuzzy comprehensive evaluation (FCE) methods showed that the stability time (ST), stretch area (SA), and maximum resistance (MAXR) were identified as three key factors, which significantly influenced wheat quality. Glu-1 and Sec-1 primarily impacted these three traits and subsequently influenced wheat quality. Compared to Glu-A1 and Glu-B1, Glu-D1 has a more significant impact on the comprehensive evaluation value D, principal components PC1-PC3, and the main traits ST, SA and MAXR of PC1. Wheat cultivars carrying the high-molecular-weight glutenin subunit (HMW-GS) Dx5+Dy10 exhibited a notable improvement in ST, SA, and MAXR traits compared with those carrying HMW-GS Dx2+Dy12, suggesting that Dx5+Dy10 may enhance wheat quality by improving ST, SA, and MAXR. By combining the results of D value, GYT (genotype by yield×trait) index, and HMW-GS score, 20 high-quality and high yield wheat cultivars were identified, which can be used as elite parents for wheat quality breeding.

Salt stress is a major limiting factor for global wheat production, especially during the germination stage. Traditional methods for evaluating salt resistance at the germination stage are limited by low throughput and their inability to capture dynamic phenotypic changes. In this study, a low-cost and high-throughput seed germination phenotyping platform was developed by integrating side-view RGB imaging with image analysis algorithms. Organ segmentation and germination related traits extraction processes was built via a deep learning pipeline for comprehensive phenotyping of the germination process of diverse varieties under different salt levels. Organ-level segmentation achieved a mean precision of 89.08%, a mean recall of 91.65%, a pixel accuracy of 91.65%, and a mean intersection over union of 83.20%. The 13 image-derived traits were highly consistent with manual measurements. Salt stress significantly inhibited the growth of roots and seedlings, with inhibitory effects intensifying as salt concentration increased. Further analysis revealed seed size shows no correlation with germination capacity and radicle growth rate significantly surpasses that of the coleoptile. Clustering analysis based on dynamic image-derived indices classified the 210 wheat materials into two groups with significantly different salt tolerance. GWAS identified 429 loci associated with salt stress response during germination, including one potential candidate gene, TraesCS7A03G007080, known to play a role in salt tolerance mechanisms. This study provides important genetic materials for the evaluation of salt-tolerant wheat varieties at the germination stage and offers a low-cost, high-throughput, and reliable technical approach for dissecting the genetic basis of salt tolerance during wheat germination.