Background Deicing agent is a substance commonly used to remove snow and melt ice from roads in winter at home and abroad. However deicing agent can bring convenience to urban life while could also cause some damage to the urban ecological environment. With the strengthening of ecological environment and deicing agent environmental protection and economic requirements, cost-effective, degradable deicing agent has become a research hotspot.In order to evaluate the impact of deicing agent on the environment, the Chinese national standard stipulates that deicing agent had a relative seed dawage rate ≥ 50% to the seeds of plants.

Methods In this study, the effect of deicing agent on seed germination characteristics was evaluated from five indicators: seed germination rate, germination index, vigor index, root length, and relative seed damage rate. In this study, it was used the experimental method of seed germination. Taking No.2 chlorine salt deicing agent and No.3 mixed deicing agent as the control, it is analyzed the effects of No.1 new eco-friendly deicing agent on seed germination characteristics for three turfgrass species, including perennial ryegrass (Lolium Perenne), white clover (Trifolium Repens) and kentucky bluegrass (Poa Pratensis).

Results The results showed that different snow melting agents promoted the germination of turfgrass seeds at low concentration and inhibited the germination at high concentration.Under the same concentration of deicing agent stress, the cut-off value of 50% inhibition of seed germination was: No.2 chlorine salt deicing agent>No.1 new eco-friendly deicing agent>No.3 mixed deicing agent. As the deicing agent concentration increased, the germination rate, germination index and vigour index of the three seeds decreased significantly, the radicle growth was significantly inhibited, the seed victimization rate increased significantly and the inhibition of the germination of the three seeds then increased. There is a significant correlation among germination rate, germination index, vigor index, root length and relative seed damage rate. Under the same type of deicing agent stress, the tolerance of bluegrass was the highest, the following is ryegrass and white clover. The new eco-friendly deicing agent showed that it can alleviate the salt stress of chloride on seed germination and promote seed germination and growth at low concentrations, but inhibited seed germination at high concentrations for all three turfgrass seeds.

Conclusions The results evaluate and analyse the influence of different types of deicing agent on seed germination characteristics from multi-dimensional different indicators, and propose a reference limit concentration range for different types of deicing agent in use, which can help municipal sweeping department to quickly select the most suitable deicing agent under different environmental requirement conditions. It also provides reference suggestions for the promotion and application of new eco-friendly deicing agent in the future.