Effects of tobacco-free nicotine pouches on seed germination

The usage of white snuff (or tobacco-free nicotine pouches) in Sweden has only increased the last few years and nicotine pouches are today one of the most common garbage items found in nature. Some studies have been conducted about what effects nicotine pouches have on us humans, but when it comes to its impact on vegetation, there are barely any researches. This study aims to answer the question if tobacco-free nicotine pouches affect seed germination. Seeds from lettuce (Lactuca sativa), flax (Linum usitatissimum), and cornflower (Centaurea cyanus) were cultivated in petri dishes and watered with different concentration of solutions made of nicotine pouches and water. To investigate if nicotine pouches only affects through just osmotic potential or if there is any substance that inhibits seed germination, an equal amount of seeds were cultivated the same way but watered with a mannitol-solution.The osmotic potential in these solutions is equivalent to those in the snuff-solutions. These results were analyzed together to determine any potential differences. Lettuce and flax had both the highest germination percentage in both water solutions, and cornflower had the lowest germination percentage in both cases. The results showed that nicotine pouches had an impact on seed germination than just osmotic potential. Lettuce was most affected by the nicotine pouches. However, the overall effect of nicotine pouches is very species-specific. However, snuff did not affect the total number of seeds that germinated because seeds watered with mannitol-solution had a lower number of germinated seeds. Tobacco may exert strong allelopathic effects on nearby plants, where nicotine from the plant is a significant factor. The prolonged germination can be explained by the allelopathic effect of nicotine from nicotine pouches on the seeds. At the same time, there might be a substance in nicotine pouches that promotes better germination, as the mannitol solutions showed lower germination rates, and mannitol is not believed to affect seed germination.