Analysis and Excavation of Unique Metabolic Components of Wheat Cultivated in Saline–Alkaline Soil

In order to investigate the impact of drought and saline-alkaline stress on the growth and metabolic components of wheat, as well as to identify advantageous components of wheat under saline-alkaline conditions, metabolomics analysis was conducted separately on wheat cultivated in saline-alkaline soil at Zhong Jie Industrial Park (AAW) and generally grown wheat at Xian Huanyuan Village (GW). The results revealed that AAW exhibited higher levels of accumulated metabolites compared to GW. Specifically, under drought and saline-alkaline stress, alkaloids, flavones, amino acids, and derivatives were significantly up-regulated, while phenolic acids and terpenoids were down-regulated. Notably, 29 differential metabolites, including vitexin-2″-O-glucoside, N-feruloyl agmatine, apigenin-8-C-glucoside, and L-alanyl-L-phenylalanine, showed significant differences between AAW and GW. Flavone and flavonol biosynthesis, apigenin C-glycosides biosynthesis, and metabolic pathways were identified as key pathways contributing to the observed differences in metabolite production. Apigenin-8-C-glucoside and vitexin-2″-O-glucoside emerged as reliable biomarkers for distinguishing between AAW and GW. These findings suggest that metabolites unique to wheat grown in saline-alkaline soil may serve as biomarkers for developing stress-resistant varieties, warranting further study of their functional components in food products.