Selection of grass vegetation species resistant to road maintenance salts

Abstract

To maintain safety during winter, deicing salt (sodium chloride) is sprinkled over roads. Snow mixed with highway salt later is cleared by snowploughs and usually left on roadsides where trees are planted. On conifers, adversely affected by deicing salt, needle shedding is accelerated. Chloride and calcium are essential elements for plants. Conifers also use sodium in their metabolism. In greater amounts, however, especially sodium and chloride are toxic to plants. The aim of investigation is to determine which of the analyzed herbaceous vegetation species (perennial ryegrass, fescue grass, meadow-grass) shows the highest degree of resistance to toxic impact of salts (stress), to set the toxic limits of salt concentrations, and to analyze how salts impact on the core parameters of herbaceous vegetation.