Abstract: There are many saline lands in China which can be ameliorated by planting salt-tolerant plant species, but salt stress has great adverse effects on the growth of plants. Due to its abiotic and biotic tolerance, Jerusalem artichoke (Helianthus tuberosus) has become increasingly considered for this purpose. In this study, two Jerusalem artichoke varieties (Nanyu No.1 and Qinyu No.2) were used in time course, soil pot experiments designed to study the effects of salinity on accumulation and distribution mode of dry matter and soluble sugar. Salt stress changed the dry matter distribution between shoots and tubers with more distribution in shoots but less in tubers. Nanyu No.1 had higher dry matter accumulation rates than Qingyu No.2 under salt stress, which reduced tuber dry weight per plant of Nanyu No.1 and Qingyu No.2 by 57.78% and 85.61%, respectively. The total soluble sugar contents of tubers and stems were reduced under salt treatments, but the total soluble contents of Nanyu No.1 were greater than those of Qingyu No.2. Reducing sugar content of stems of the two varieties were depressed significantly for Nanyu No.1 (77.34%) and Qingyu No.2 (60.79%), but the non-reducing sugar contents of both varieties were augmented. During the period of tuber initiation (100-140 days after planting), contents of tuber fructan were increased under salt stress, but decreased during the period of tuber filling (140-220 days). Under stress, Nanyu No.1 had higher tuber fructan accumulation contents or rate than Qingyu No.2. Contents of fructan accumulation were decreased by 74.02% and 93.81%, individually, and the rates of fructan accumulation were reduced by 77.08% and 98.44%, respectively. Our results demonstrate that salt stress greatly reduces the biomass of the two Jerusalem artichoke cultivars, changes the sugar distribution pattern, and delays fructan accumulation in the plants. Our study found that yield and fructan contents of Nanyun No.1 were less affected compared with Qingyu No.2, which implies Nanyu No.1 maybe better adapted to saline land.