【Objective】NO has been found to function in plant responses to various environmental stresses. Salt stress causes water deficit, ion toxicity, and nutrient deficiency, leading to growth and yield reduction, and even to plant death. Exogenous NO may effectively enhance plant tolerance to salt stress by activating antioxidant enzyme, mitigating oxidative damage and regulating cytosolic ionic balance in the plant. The aim of this paper is to evaluate effects of application of sodium nitroprusside (SNP) as donor of exogenous nitric oxide (NO) on growth and physiological characteristics of wheat seedlings under salt stress relative to application method. 【Method】A pot experiment, designed to have five treatments, that is, control (CK), NPK fertilizer (T1), NPK fertilizer + soaking seeds in 3.33 mg SNP solution (T2), NPK fertilizer+3.33 mg SNP applied into soil directly (T3) and NPK fertilizer+3.33 mg SNP prepared into controlled release fertilizer (T4), and four replicates, was carried out. Wheat Shannong 22 was cultivated in the pots, which were arranged in randomized block designs. During the growing season, plants were managed in the same way as the local farmers do.【Result】Results show: under salt stress, a lot of reactive oxygen species (such as superoxide anion and hydrogen peroxide, etc) accumulated in wheat plants, inhibiting growth of the wheat seedlings; the wheat seedlings in all the treatments grew better than those in the control, and the application of SNP reduced the adverse effects caused by salt stress; exogenous NO obviously improved wheat seed emergence rate; in comparison with Treatments T2 and T3, Treatment T4 significantly mitigated the damage caused to the wheat seedlings under salt stress and significantly improved growth of the wheat seedlings in terms of fresh weight, dry weight, chlorophyll content and antioxidant enzymes (SOD, POD, CAT) activities; reduced superoxide anion production rate and hydrogen peroxide content in the leaves; decreased the absorption of Na⁺ while increasing that of K⁺, helping keep Na⁺ and K⁺in balance in the plants; and promoted root absorption of N and P, thus improving fertilizer use efficiency of the plant and ensuring adequate nutrients in the wheat plant. 【Conclusion】On the one hand, the application of exogenous NO can improve resistance of the wheat seedlings to salt by promoting growth of the seedlings, enhancing antioxidant enzymes activities and regulating ion balance or other ways, and alleviate damage of salt stress to the wheat seedlings; and on the other hand, exogenous NO can also regulate plant absorption of nutrients and improve fertilizer use efficiency and hence promote growth of the wheat seedlings. Among the three different application methods, the one of preparing NPK and SNP into controlled release fertilizer is the best in reducing the effect of salt stress on wheat.