• Journal of the Korean Institute of Landscape Architecture
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• v.47 no.4
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• pp.61-67
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• 2019

The purpose of this research is to evaluate the salt tolerance of the Miscanthus sinensis and to characterize the content of pigments in the leachate in relation to calcium chloride ($CaCl_2$) deicing salt. Miscanthus sinensis were cultured at five different concentrations of calcium chloride deicing salt, 0, 1, 2, 5, and $10g{\cdot}L^{-1}$ (referred to Cont. C1, C2, C5, and C10) for four months. The salt tolerance and leachate while growing Miscanthus sinensis on soil which was artificially contaminated by calcium chloride deicing salt. Soil chemical properties (pH, E.C., $Ca^{2+}$, $Na^+$, $K^+$, and $Mg^{2+}$) and plant growth parameters (plant height, leaf length, leaf width, number of leaves, shoot fresh weight, root fresh weight, shoot dry weight, an root dry weight) were evaluated. Soil pH decreased, while electrical conductivity significantly decreased ($p{\leq}0.05$) with a higher concentration of deicing salt $0g{\cdot}L^{-1}$ (Cont.). The increase in the concentration of chloride-based exchangeable cations, along with the increase in the deicing salt treatments, were observed in $Ca^{2+}$ > $Na^+$ > $K^+$ > $Mg^{2+}$. Notably the $Ca^{2+}$ exchangeable cations were 83~90% higher than the others. The growth of Miscanthus sinensis significantly increased ($p{\leq}0.05$) with the concentration of deicing salt higher than $1g{\cdot}L^{-1}$ (C1) when compared to 0 g/L (Cont.), except for the $10g{\cdot}L^{-1}$ (C10) treatment. The results determined that the contamination of soil by deicing salt could negatively impact the soil and Miscanthus sinensis was a tolerant species for the deicing salts. Further research will be focused on soil improvement additives and the stable stimulated plant growth of Miscanthus sinensis and a formulation on that basis for the soil-plant continuum.