Incidence of soft rot in creosoted poles

IRG/WP 92-1554

D J Dickinson, P W McCormack, B Calver

A further population of creosote-treated poles has been assessed for the occurrence of soft rot, as a continuation of work reported in IRG Document No. IRG/WP/1368. The outer 1 cm of each core was assessed microscopically and graded for the presence of soft rot cavities in the wood cell walls; with further assessments taken at a consecutive 1cm interval for cores showing positive findings. Following this assessment each core was cultured on microbiological media in an attempt to isolate potential causative organisms and correlate their presence with the occurrence of soft rot cavities in the wood cell walls. The results indicate that a number of fungi may be important, either in causing soft rot decay or in creating the conditions necessary for such decay to occur. Of these, Hormoconis resinae seems to be particularly important. This fungus was found populating poles at a rate of 68% overall. Further work has also been undertaken, using gas chromatography and gas chromatography coupled with mass spectroscopy, to establish the amount of creosote present, its chemical composition in poles and to correlate this data with that for soft rot cavitation and microbiological assay.


Keywords: ABOVE-GROUND; CREOSOTE; GC/MS; HORMOCONIS RESINAE; OCCURRENCE; POLES; SOFT ROT; SURVEY

Conference: 92-05-10/15 Harrogate, England, UK


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