For the sreening of anti-stain chemicals trials with selected agricultural fungicides and new chemicals were carried out. Botryodiplodia theobromae, Aspergillus sp. and Penicillium sp. were used at test organisms. For testing the durability of rubber wood (Hevea brasiliensis) suitable local rotting fungi (Basidiomycetes), based on high degrading power, which may later be employed in standard tests, were isolated: Trametes corrugata, Schizophyllum commune, Lentinus blepharodes, Lenzites palisotii, Ganoderma applanatum, Fomes senex and Polyporus zonalis. Several of the fungicides screened, such as benomyl, thiram, quintozene and captafol, are effective against the blue stain fungus Botryodiplodia theobromae, at fairly low concentrations. However at the levels required, none of them is cost-effective compared sodium pentachlorophenoxide, the preservative currently used for blue stain control in rubber wood. Of the seven Basidiomycetes tested, two of them - Lenzites palisotii and Ganoderma applanatum - were shown to give a high degree of degradation in rubber wood. These species could perhaps be used as test organisms for evaluating wood preservatives in Malaysia.

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