The effect of drought and salinity stress on the seedlings of the somatic hybrid wheat cv. Shanrong No. 3 (SR3) and its parent bread wheat cv. Jinan 177 (JN177) was investigated using two dimensional gel electrophoresis and mass spectrometry. Out of a set of 93 (root) and 65 (leaf) differentially expressed proteins (DEPs), 34 (root) and six (leaf) DEPs were cultivar-specific. The remaining DEPs were salinity/drought stress responsive, but not cultivar-specific. Many of the DEPs were expressed under both drought and salinity stress. The amounts of stress responsive DEPs between SR3 and JN177 were almost equivalent, whereas only some of these DEPs were shared by two cultivars. Overall, the number of salinity responsive DEPs was greater than the number of drought responsive ones. And most of the drought responsive DEPs also responded to salinity. There are both similarities and differences in the response of wheat to salinity and drought. A parallel transcriptomic analysis showed that the correlation between transcriptional and translational patterns of DEPs was poor. The enhanced drought/salinity tolerance of SR3 appears to be governed by a superior capacity for osmotic and ionic homeostasis, a more efficient removal of toxic by products, and ultimately a better potential for growth recovery.