One of the main problems that the forest exploitation industry has with Pinus nigra wood is the blue-stain fungi, whose causing agent is unknown. Therefore, the objective of this work has been to study, through enzymatic tests of the isolated cultures, if these fungi infect Pinus nigra in any specific way. After the incubations, isolates of Ceratocystis were obtained. These were cultured in a saline medium with sawdust of Pinus nigra and Pinus sylvestris, which were used as reference species. At different incubation times, carboxymethylcellulase, xylanase, cellobiohydrolase, laccase and manganese peroxidase were determinated. The results obtained show that the cellulolytic enzymes and laccase have higher activity on Pinus nigra sawdust than on Scots pine, while the Mn peroxidase showed higher values on the sawdust of the latter. Likewise, the cultures were developed in the same saline base medium with different monosacarides (glucose, galactose, mannose, xylose and arabinose), and in determining the residual sugar content, a marked prefrence for the consumption of pentoses in respect to the glucose was observed. The enzymatic activity tests carried out by APY ZYM also showed qualitative and semiquantitative differences between the isolated fungi and other Ceratocystis species tested, so, in addition to the above results, this could indicate a certain specificity of these fungi for this wood species.

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