Fungal strains were screened for their ability to degrade apolar extractives in wood from scots pine. The degradation of total wood extractives by 91 different strains was monitored in stationary batch assays incubated for 6 weeks. The results obtained show that the ability of wood-inhabiting fungi to utilize wood extractives varied greatly, even for different isolates of the same species. Fungal pretreatment provided up to 70% total resin reduction. Outstanding strains included mainly white-rot fungi. Several sapstain strains were also efficient extractive degraders. Apolar extractives are well known for their inhibitory effect to fungal growth. However, our findings show that wood extractives can serve as carbon source for numerous wood-inhabiting fungi. Furthermore, these results indicate the potentials of wood-inhabiting fungi in biotechnological processes for pulp and paper manufacturing, ie., wood chip depitching and biodetoxification.

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