Pot experiments were carried out to study the response of Helianthus tuberosus of seven varieties and to select the physiological indices of H.tuberosus for response on seawater treatment.Results were as follows:(1) Compared with the control,the fresh and dry weights and the water contents of shoots and roots of H.tuberosus seedlings treated with 15% and 30% seawater decreased, especially with 30% seawater treatment.Contents of Na~ and Cl~-in the shoots and roots increased with seawater concentration increasing.The contents of K~ in the shoots and roots under 15% and 30% seawater were higher than those under 0% seawater.There was significantly negative correlation between the fresh and dry weight of shoots and roots of H.tuberosus seedlings and the contents of Na~ in the roots.And there was significantly negative correlation between the fresh weights of shoots and roots of H.tuberosus seedling and the contents of Na~ in shoots and roots.There was significantly positive correlation between the dry weights of shoots and roots of H.tuberosus seedling and the contents of K~ in shoots and roots.Based on those,the H.tuberosus of seven varieties tested could be divided into three groups,such as high seawater-tolerance,intermedia seawater-tolerance and low seawater-tolerance.There was different response on seawater treatment about the katabatic scopes of fresh weight and dry weight and the contents of water and contents of Na~ ,K~ and Cl~-in the shoots and roots among the variances of H.tuberosus.Thus,the katabatic scopes of fresh weight and dry weight and contents of Na~ ,K~ and Cl~-in the shoots and roots could be used as physiological indices for selecting different genotypes of H.tuberosus for responses on seawater treatment.