<p>Horsegram is generally considered an underutilized, stress-resilient legume, with considerable variability in abiotic stress tolerance in its germplasm. To assess the levels of tolerance, genotypes were screened in controlled conditions. The study examines how tolerant and sensitive genotypes react morphologically and biochemically in natural environments. Our previous research identified contrasting genotypes including two salt stress-tolerant genotypes DH-22 and DH-29 and sensitive genotypes DH-11 and DH-12. Sensitive genotypes had light green, ovate, smooth-textured leaves, and straw-coloured mature stems and pods. In contrast, tolerant genotypes exhibited darker, linear, and hairy leaves, darker stems, and hairy, purple-green pods. Seed traits also differed, with sensitive genotypes having small, wrinkled, orange seeds, while tolerant genotypes had larger, smooth, dark brown or grey seeds with black spots. Tolerant genotypes also exhibited higher ash content, seed weight, germination rates, germination percentages, photosynthetic pigments, free proline, flavonoid and phenolic content, protein content, and antioxidant enzyme activities of catalase and ascorbate peroxidase. In contrast, they showed lower ascorbic acid content, hydrogen peroxide, malondialdehyde levels, percent ion leakage, superoxide anion content, and antioxidant enzyme activities of guaiacol peroxidase and superoxide dismutase as compared to sensitive genotypes. These morphological and biochemical differences between tolerant and sensitive genotypes provide insights into their stress tolerance ability in legumes. These morphological and biochemical attributes contributed to the superior stress tolerance observed in the tolerant genotypes compared to their sensitive counterparts, highlighting their potential for improving legume resilience in saline environments.</p>