Journal of Food, Agriculture and Environment

Physiological responses of Pachysandra terminalis to long-term road de-icing salt application

Author(s):

Jin-Hee Ju ¹, Sun-Young Lee ¹, Yong-Han Yoon ¹, Hyun-Kyu Kang ²*

Recieved Date: 2014-01-20, Accepted Date: 2014-04-20

Abstract:

Calcium chloride (CaCl₂) is the most common salt for deicing road. The use of road salts, however, adversely affects roadside vegetation. This study determined the toxic concentration of CaCl₂ inhibiting the growth of Pachysandra terminalis that is widely used as groundcover plant in Korea. Specifically, the objectives were to undertake preliminary measurements of growth parameters, biomass, aesthetic value, and survival rate. A 200 ml volume of the CaCl₂ solution at different concentrations (0 mM (referred as control), 50 mM, 100 mM or 300 mM) was supplied to each plant in every other day from the 12^th of May to October using a drip irrigation system. In result, four-month application of CaCl₂ solution at the 50 mM concentration decreased the plant height about 14.8%, compared to that of plants under the control. Significant decreases in the leaf length were observed in the plants grown for 4 months under both the 100 and 300 mM of CaCl₂ treatments, by 13% and 23%, respectively. Between the 3 and 4 months after treatment, a drastic reduction in leaf number was found in the plants under the 300 mM of CaCl₂ treatment, whereas the leaf number under the 50 and 100 mM of CaCl₂ treatments started decreasing between 4 and 5 months after treatment. About 29% and 91% decreases in the shoot number was observed in the plants grown for 5 months under the 50 and 300 mM of CaCl₂ treatments, respectively, compared to that of plants under the control. About 46% decrease in shoot fresh weight was observed in the plants grown for 5 months under the 50 mM treatment and a 60% under both the 100 and 300 mM treatments of CaCl₂, compared to that of plants under the control. About 42%, 54% and 59% decreases in root fresh weight was found in the plants grown under the 50, 100 and 300 mM of CaCl₂ treatments, respectively, compared to that of plants under the control. The dry weight ratio of root to shoot (R/S ratio) decreased 2.3 fold in the plants grown under the 300 mM of CaCl₂ treatment, compared to that under the control. About 90% reduction in water content was found in the plants grown under the 300 mM of CaCl₂ treatment. About 33% decrease in the aesthetic value was found in the plants grown for 5 months under the 50 mM CaCl₂ treatment, whereas about 89% decrease was found under the 300 mM treatment. The survival rate ranged between 60% and 80% for the plants grown under both the 50 and 100 mM of CaCl₂ treatments, whereas it was only 10% for the plants grown under the 300 mM of CaCl₂ treatment. These preliminary observations for CaCl₂ salt effects on the growth of Pachysandra terminalis indicate that severe damages for both leaves and shoots started between 3 and 4 months after treatment with higher than 50 mM of CaCl₂ concentration, of which levels appear to be drastically hostile to its growth and development. Further study is going to be necessary to screen potential species tolerant to the salt stress.

Keywords:

Groundcover plants, Japanese spurge (Pachysandra terminalis), roadside de-icing salts, salt tolerance

---

Journal: Journal of Food, Agriculture and Environment
Year: 2014
Volume: 12
Issue: 2
Category: Environment
Pages: 851-854

---

Full text for Subscribers

---

Information:

Note to users

The requested document is freely available only to subscribers/registered users with an online subscription to the Journal of Food, Agriculture & Environment. If you have set up a personal subscription to this title please enter your user name and password. All abstracts are available for free.

Article purchasing

If you like to purchase this specific document such as article, review or this journal issue, contact us. Specify the title of the article or review, issue, number, volume and date of the publication. Software and compilation, Science & Technology, all rights reserved. Your use of this website details or service is governed by terms of use. Authors are invited to check from time to time news or information.

---

Purchase this Article:   20 Purchase PDF Order Reprints for 15

---

Share this article :