Laboratory fungal decay tests provide important tools for performance testing of wood materials. But they are also hampered with some uncertainties regarding reproducibility. In addition to variation between fungal species and strains the test conditions are also believed to have some influence. The aim of this study was to screen the effect of a selection of test parameters that might influence the results from a laboratory fungal decay test. The results from this study showed that T. versicolor was more sensitive to the tested factors than P. placenta using P. sylvestris as wood substrate. The data from the agar/malt test showed that the choice of malt was of great importance for the virulence of the test fungus. However, no significant differences in mass loss were detected for two of the fungi; C. puteana and G. trabeum. From these results it can be concluded that it is important to describe the test parameters in detail when presenting results from fungi trials in order to facilitate reproducibility.

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