Abstract: The grassland of Leymmus chinensis in Songnen Plain has undergone different degrees of degradation due to the influences of global change and human activity.The seed germination and seedling growth was a key stage for plant growth and planting in succession.Aiming at understanding the effects of different degraded grassland soils on seed germination and seedling growth, we selected four grassland communities:Leymus chinensis, Puccinellia distans, Chloris virgata and Suaeda glauca communities as representatives of different degradation stages, and analyzed the relationship between the soil physi-chemical properties at different degradation stages and seed germination and seedling growth.The results showed that:with the reverse succession, the soil pH and soil electric conductivity increased gradually and soil ESP became higher and higher; the soil ESP in community of Suaeda glauca was significantly higher than that incommunity of Leymus chinensis.Grassland degradation led to reduction of soil nutrients, and the content of available nitrogen in community of Suaeda glauca was significantly lower than that in community of Leymus chinensis.The germination rate of Leymus chinensis was the highest in the community of Leymus chinensis; with the degradation succession, the germination rate decreased significantly, which finally inhibited the seedling growth; the inhibition effect of degraded soil on root length of Leymus chinensis was greater than that of seedling length.of Leymus chinensis.In conclusion, the degradation of the grassland, to some extent, is accompanied by the soil salinization progress; as the degradation degree of the soil increases more, the inhibition to the germination of the herb increases more.