Objective   Saline-alkaline tolerance of rice varieties was evaluated for the crop cultivation in Yinbei region of Ningxia province.

  Methods   In the salt-alkaline fields, 12 rice varieties (lines) showing a tolerance to the conditions, along with the local Ningjing No. 45 as control, were planted to observe their growth and adaptability to the environment for 2 consecutive years. A total of 17 various yield and quality traits, including plant height, effective panicle number, panicle length, total grain number per panicle, filled grain number per panicle, grain weight per panicle, effective panicle number per plant, 1000-grain weight, yield, brown rice rate, milled rice rate, head milled rice rate, chalky grain rate, chalkiness,length-width ratio as well as protein and amylose contents, were measured at maturation. The data were statistically analyzed for correlation, protein content, and membership functions.

  Result  The 17 quality indicators of the rice grown under saline-alkaline stress were grouped into 5 indices that provided a cumulative contribution rate of 91.05% by a principal component analysis for comprehensive comparison. The D values generated by the membership function analysis ranked the 13 rice specimens in degree of the tolerance as Hei 006＞Songjing No. 12＞202008013＞Ningjing No. 45 (CK)＞Songjing No. 9＞Jinnuo No. 6＞Xindao 28＞Liaojing 828＞2020810＞Gangyuan 11＞Xincejing No. 1＞Haijing-20-Xiang.

  Conclusion  Being rated higher than control on the tolerance and adaptability to salt and alkalinity, Hei 006, 2020801, and Songjing 12 were recommended for further testing as the potential germplasms for cultivation on the likewise soils in the region.