This study aims to screen the suitable grass species with low sowing rate and high coverage. Four ecological grass species， Poa pretensis ‘Qinghai’， Deschampsia cespitosa， Koeleria macrantha and Elymus tangutorum， were selected as experimental materials to carry out the screening experiment of suitable sowing rate. The characteristics of plant phenotypic traits， biomass and soil nutrients under three sowing rates were analyzed. The results showed that when the sowing rate was 9 g·m^-2， the aboveground biomass of Poa pretensis ‘Qinghai’， Deschampsia cespitosa and Koeleria macrantha were the highest， which were 296.45 g·m^-2，224.32 g·m^-2 and 236.35 g·m^-2 respectively. The aboveground biomass of Elymus tangutorum was 356.24 g·m^-2 when the seeding rate was 18 g·m^-2， which was significantly higher than other treatments （P<0.05）. When the sowing amount of Poa pretensis ‘Qinghai’， Deschampsia cespitosa and Koeleria macrantha reached 9 g·m^-2， the soil nutrient indexes such as organic matter， total nitrogen and total phosphorus performed well. The seeding rate of Elymus tangutorum was 18 g·m^-2， which showed a good soil nutrient status. Principal component analysis of 13 indexes of plants and soil showed that the cumulative contribution rate of the first five principal components reached 89.615%. The comprehensive evaluation of membership function showed that the comprehensive evaluation values of Poa pretensis‘Qinghai’， Deschampsia cespitosa and Koeleria macrantha were the highest when the sowing amount was 9 g·m^-2， which were 0.420， 0.486 and 0.698 respectively. When the seeding rate of Elymus tangutorum was 18 g·m^-2， the comprehensive evaluation value was the highest， which was 0.634. To sum up， 9 g·m^-2 is the most suitabel sowing amount for planting Poa pretensis‘Qinghai’， Deschampsia cespitosa and Koeleria macrantha in Muli mining area， and 18 g·m^-2 is Elymus tangutorum in Muli mining area.

Ecological grass species  /  Sowing quantity  /  Biomass  /  Physical and chemical properties of soil  /  Muli mining area  /  Eco-restoration