Plantation-grown rubber trees (Hevea brasiliensis) in the tropics is fast emerging as a significant provider of quality hardwood for a variety of non-structural products, as the aesthetics of the timber is its creamed colour resembling perhaps the priced but depleting Ramin wood or even American beechwood. However rubberwood logs and sawn materials are highly sensitive to sapstain, fungal decay and insect damage. Ensuring high added value of rubberwood products requires stringent control of biodeterioration using preservation treatment or immediate seasoning. This paper attempts to review studies on biodeterioration and preservation of this favoured wood material in the tropics.

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