IRG Documents Database and Compendium


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The development of soft rot decay in bamboo fibres
1992 - IRG/WP 92-1572
The development of decay by soft rot fungus Chaetomium globosum was investigated in young and mature culms of bamboo Phyllostachys virideglaucescens. Soft rot decay was influenced both quantitatively and qualitatively by the differing levels of lignification in the material. Weight loss was significantly greater in the younger culm compared with the older, more heavily lignified culm. The distribu...
O Sulaiman, R J Murphy


Potential toxicants for controlling soft rot in preservative treated hardwoods. Part 2: Laboratory screening tests using sawdust
1977 - IRG/WP 2101
A technique is described for the rapid screening of toxicants against microorganisms, represented by the brown rot, Gloeophyllum trabeum, and a natural inoculum from soft rotted wood. Sawdust, in this case from sapwood of Eucalyptus maculata, is pretreated with the candidate formulation and moistened before inoculation. Visual scoring of growth can be used to discriminate suitable candidates as ea...
J D Thornton


Studies in an accelerated soil bed facility on the decay susceptibility of U.K. grown spruce and pine poles treated with copper/chrome/arsenic (CCA) by pressurised sap-displacement. Part 1: Setting up of soil beds and initial soft rot results
1990 - IRG/WP 2344
The paper describes the methodology used in the construction and early operation of an accelerated soil bed facility used to examine the decay susceptibility of U.K. grown Scots and Corsican pine and Sitka and Norway spruce treated with C.C.A. by high pressure sap-displacememt. The design and control of the facility as well as the preparation, soil exposure and soft rot decay analysis of quarter p...
A Bruce, S D Hainey, G M Smith, B King, P D Evans


Soft-rot testing. Memo to CEN
1983 - IRG/WP 2206 A
1. Development of a single test procedure to assess performance of preservatives against soft rot fungi is an ideal that cannot be realised at present, if results are to be both reproducible between laboratories and pertinent to the practical requirements of individual countries. 2. Consensus opinion amongst members of Sub Group I - Soft rot tests, of Working Group II - Fundamentals of Testing, of the IRG, is that the immediate needs of CEN would be best answered by: (a) a code of recommended practice, (b) a multiplicity of test procedures, and (c) a degree of flexibility in test procedures. 3. The code of recommended practice should recognise the need for: (a) a pure culture, synthetic medium (sand or vermiculite + nutrients), single wood species test to be adopted by all laboratories as a common reference point of testing, (b) mixed inoculum and/or unsterile soil laboratory or fungus cellar tests which account for local variations in the fungal flora, (c) incorporation of a range of wood species where applicable (i.e. where mixed hardwoods comprise the main resource), (d) provision of local internal standards of known performance under field conditions, (e) incorporation of leaching procedures other than standard methods with deionized water (e.g. mild acid, milk alkali, ionic solutions of various salts) where applicable to local exposure conditions, (f) precise definition of the criteria used for establishing toxic thresholds (mass loss, strength loss, microscopic examination). 4. Initial screening tests should remain the province of the individual research worker. 5. The code of recommended practice should have the sole purpose of establishing provisional retention levels for subsequent confirmation by field trial. 6. IRG should list and approve test procedures considered adequate to establish toxic thresholds for preservatives against soft rot fungi. 7. It should be clearly understood that when using a series of test techniques, it is inevitable that a range of toxic thresholds will be obtained for the same preservative. 8. Guidelines should be drawn up for interpretation of test data for subsequent transformation to provisional retention levels. 9. Adoption of the broad principles outlines above is recognition of the dynamic nature of toxic thresholds. The additional information obtained by a more flexible, and complex, approach to testing may make interpretation more difficult but should provide data from which response of preservatives to varying biological and environmental hazards can be more realistically assessed. 10. It is recommended that CEN adopt, in principle, the basic philosophy of testing outlined above and move towards formulation of a Working Document in collaboration with IRG
J A Butcher, D J Dickinson


List of fungi in soft-rot tests
1975 - IRG/WP 105
This list gives information on the terrestrial and marine species and strains of fungi tested for soft-rot ability in pure culture with data on their decay activity in untreated wood. An index of the timber species tested is added. The compilation is based on 1) the list of soft-rot fungi of the former OECD Group (Doc.No. 27/DAS/CSI/M/559), Oct. 1968, prepared by R. Rösch and W. Liese, 2) informa...
G Seehann, W Liese, B Kess


Defining fungal decay types - A proposal for discussion
1985 - IRG/WP 1264
The present definitions of the fungal decay types, white rot, brown rot, and soft rot are somewhat vague. The definitions are based on a mixture of criteria involving morphological and chemical aspects of decay as well as taxonomic affiliation of the responsible fungal species. The present vague definitions have led some fungi being erroneously places in a wrong decay type. Furthermore, some fungi...
T Nilsson


Effect of fungal degradation on the chemical composition of acetylated beech wood
2003 - IRG/WP 03-40267
This study investigated the impact of fungal attack on the chemical composition of acetylated wood. Beech wood acetylated to different degrees was exposed to decay by the white-rot fungus Trametes versicolor under solid-state fermentation conditions. Laboratory soil-bed assays were also conducted to study the degradation of acetylated wood by soft rot fungi and other soil-inhabiting microorganisms...
H Militz, Dong-won Son, L Gómez-Hernández, R Sierra-Alvarez


The microbial ecology of treated birch stakes in a soil-bed
1983 - IRG/WP 1209
The microbial ecology of small birch stakes exposed in soil beds in two Fungus Cellars was investigated. Patterns of fungal colonisation and decay initiation are described in untreated birch and copper fluosilicate-treated stakes. Results are based on fungal isolation onto selective media and direct light microscopical observations of decay features. In untreated stakes there was a rapid build-up ...
C P Clubbe


Influence of the content of organic matter of soil on the degradation of wood by soft rot fungi
1970 - IRG/WP 27
The degradation of wood specimen burried in the soil by soft rot fungi is influenced by a number of factors. These are in particular the water holding capacity, water content, content of organic matter, pH, content of mineral nutritive substances etc. The results of the interlaboratory tests, carried out within the IRG/WP let presume that the intensity of wood degradation occurs proportionally inv...
O Wälchli


Factors affecting decay rates in a fungus cellar
1985 - IRG/WP 2242
Birch and pine stakes treated with chromated copper arsenate and didecyldimethylammonium chloride were incubated in two soils in a "Fungus Cellar" test. At three month intervals, sets of stakes were inspected and assigned visual ratings or removed from the soil beds for weight loss determination. Preliminary results after nine months exposure have shown differences in the decay rates between birch...
P A McKaig


Collaborative soft rot tests: Specific gravity loss resulting from soft rot
1973 - IRG/WP 227
It was proposed at the 5th meeting of Working Group II of the IRG in June 1973 in Lahti, Finland, that the specific gravity (swollen volume basis) of test blocks used in the IRG Collaborative Soft Rot Tests should be determined on all the blocks at the completion of the exposure period. Specific gravity determined on the basis of the oven dry weight and water swollen volume was selected because (1...
C R Levy


The use of organic wood preservatives in ground contact and the suitability of laboratory test procedures to determine their efficacy
1999 - IRG/WP 99-20175
Organic fungicides, such as propiconazole, have proven to be highly effective when used as a co-biocide in recently developed wood preservative formulations. They have however been ineffective when used as a stand alone preservative, particularly when used in ground contact (European Hazard class 4). Previous research, using the test methods of ENV 807 (1993), provided conflicting evidence regardi...
I J Herring, D J Dickinson


Bethoguard; A new wood protecting fungicide for use in metal free ground contact wood preservatives
2002 - IRG/WP 02-30301
Research has identified the limitations in both the spectrum of activity and permanence of organic biocides placed in wood in high hazard environments, particularly in the absence of heavy metals such as copper. More specifically, the control of soft rot decay in wood in soil contact has proven to be most problematic. The new organic biocide, Bethoguard; an oxathiazine, has demonstrated excellen...
S C Forster, G R Williams, M Van Der Flaas, M Bacon, J Gors


Soft rot - Soil burial - Tests. Influence of the addition of nitrogen compounds to the soil on wood decay by soft rot
1972 - IRG/WP 213
The decay of wood specimens buried in soil is influenced by various factors. Decisive are the water content, the content of organic substances, the pH-value, the content of mineral nutritive salts, nitrogen content, etc. of the soil. These tests were carried out in order to investigate if the decay of wood in the soil will be influenced by additions of various nitrogen-compounds in different conce...
O Wälchli


Detection of the dry rot fungus Serpula lacrymans by amplified ribosomal DNA restriction analysis
1998 - IRG/WP 98-10245
Isolates of the dry rot fungus Serpula lacrymans and the wild merulius S. himantioides were investigated by amplified ribosomal DNA restriction analyses (ARDRA) of the internal transcribed spacers (ITS). The technique uses the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) to amplify the variable region of the ITS between the conserved 18S and 28S genes of the nuclear ribosomal DNA (rDNA). The ITS region of all isolates of Serpula lacrymans and S. himantioides was successfully amplified. The length of the amplified product was about 630 bp. Subsequent double digest of the ITS with the restriction endonucleases Haelli and Taql separated the closely related fungi by species-specific fragments. Thus, ARDRA-ITS proved to be suited for the detection of the dry rot fungus.
O Schmidt, U Moreth


Preliminary indications of the natural durability of Spruce bark board
1999 - IRG/WP 99-10312
A board material made from pressed bark, with no added adhesive, has been developed by Forintek's composites group and tested for durability by Forintek's treated-wood group and the University of Hawaii. This material was also manufactured with veneers in a one-step process. Since one role of bark on the tree is protection against pests and diseases, barkboard was expected to hav...
P I Morris, J K Grace, G E Troughton


Decay rates and strength and stiffness loss in foundation beams
1992 - IRG/WP 92-1563
The TNO Centre for Timber Research has executed an extensive research programme into the rate of decay in foundation beams, as a result of lowering of ground water tables. The aim of the research was to develop a method, predicting the decrease in strength and stiffness in beams, due to wood decay during drytime of foundation beams. With the calculated extremes in decay, the damage caused by local...
P Esser, H S Buitenkamp


Soft rot in heartwood of preservative-treated pole stubs of Eucalyptus cypellocarpa L. Johnson
1983 - IRG/WP 1204
Pole stubs of Eucalyptus cypellocarpa L. Johnson, treated in the sapwood with certain waterborne preservatives and exposed for 21 to 23 years in a dry tropical region were severely soft-rotted in the heartwood, as well as the sapwood. They broke with a brash fracture when stress tested (loaded as a cantilever) in the field. The severe soft rot in the heartwood was not detected by the knife test or...
J E Barnacle, G C Johnson, M A Tighe


Preservation of basidiomycete hyphae in ancient waterlogged wood materials
1992 - IRG/WP 92-1536
Studies on waterlogged archaeological wood show that basidiomycete hyphae may persist as long as 800 years. In two pine wood samples with Phellinus pini heartrot, one from the foremast of the ship Vasa and the other from a bulwark constructed in the first part of the 12th century, numerous resin covered hyphae were observed. Hyphae with clamp connections that were associated with brown and white r...
T Nilsson, G F Daniel


PXTS; A Metal Free Oligomer Wood Preserving System - A Summary of Data To Date
2004 - IRG/WP 04-30350
The world is continually looking for new wood preservative technology, especially to address environmental concerns. Recent changes in the USA have limited the use of arsenical containing formulations to industrial use through a negotiated voluntary cancellation of most residential label uses. PXTS (Polymeric Alkylphenol Polysulfide) offers a brand new technology that is an all organic system, lik...
M H Freeman, D D Nicholas, D Renz, R Buff


Use of the enzyme-linked immunoassay (ELISA) and immunocytochemistry to detect soft rot in preservative treated and untreated wood
1990 - IRG/WP 2347
A polyclonal antibody was raised against mycelial extracts from the soft rot fungus Phialophora mutabilis. In ELISA assays, the antibody showed strong reactions with its own antigen and strong to moderate cross reactions with 6 other Phialophora soft rot species. With the exception of Ceratocystis albida, the antibody gave only weak or negative reactions with 11 other mold, blue stain and rot fung...
G F Daniel, T Nilsson


Influence of the nature of the substrate and the method of inoculation on the degradative activity of soft rot fungi
1998 - IRG/WP 98-20133
The European Standard (ENV-807) determines the threshold of effectiveness of wood preservatives against the action of soft rot Ascomycetes fungi. Its application in the treatment of wood used in the hazard class 4 does not always offer repeatable results, which could be expected in an experimental norm. For this reason, in this paper, we have evaluated the diverse variables that might influence t...
M T De Troya, A M Navarrete, F Rubio, J Jiménez, D Muñoz-Mingarro, C Rodríguez-Borrajo, F Llinares, M Yuste


The influence of cement and calcium compounds on the performance of CCA preservatives
1983 - IRG/WP 3221
The influence of cement and calcium compounds on the durability of untreated and CCA treated wood is considered. Calcium compounds were found to reduce the toxicity of a CCA preservative to a soft rot fungus at copper to calcium ratios of 1:1 and 1:10 using a cellulose filter paper technique. Further studies are outlined and some possible mechanisms by which cement and calcium compounds may affect...
R J Murphy


Common Decay Micromorphology “Anomalies” Challenge Current Decay Classification
2006 - IRG/WP 06-10578
Decay micromorphology was studied systematically for diversely preservative treated Pinus radiata and Fagus sylvatica 20 x 20 x 500 mm stakes across 13 in-ground field test sites, during a 6.5 year exposure. New insight into the micromorphology of the early stages of decay enabled new and more detailed interpretation of the mechanism of their formation and suggested that current decay classificati...
R Wakeling


Laboratory Evaluation of Soft Rot Resistance of Non-Durable Lesser-Known Malaysian Hardwoods
2006 - IRG/WP 06-10582
Resistance of six non-durable lesser-known Malaysian hardwoods, Pulai (Alstonia spp.), Rubberwood (Hevea brasiliensis), Ludai (Sapium spp.), Jelutong (Dyera costulata), Gaham Badak (Blumeodendron tokbrai) and Kayu arang (Diospyros spp.) compared with temperate Scots pine sapwood (Pinus sylvestris), were evaluated using the unsterile soil burial (mixed with Chaetomium globosum) versus vermiculite-b...
A H H Wong


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